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COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS 
AND  SURGEONS 


Reference  Library 

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http://www.archive.org/details/idiocyitstreatmeOOsegu 


Columbia  Xllnivereitie 
tieacbers  College 

jEbucational  IRepnnte 


publiebeb  b^ 

^cacbers  College,  Columbia  IDiniversltp 

mew  l?ork 

1907 


Jhtnrg:  Knh  Jta  ^vmtmmt 


BY   THE 


pifgBtclngtral  iirtl|0& 


BY 


EDWARD  SEGUIN,  M.D. 


PRBBB    OF 

BBANDOW    PRINTINO    COMPANY 

ALBANY,    N.    Y. 


7fC630 


s< 


Ho-J 


In  reprinting  this  volume,  our  purpose  is  only  to  make  avail- 
able for  all  students  of  the  education  of  mental  defectives  a  book 
of  very  great  historical  importance,  not  to  guide  such  students  in 
estimating  the  truth  or  present  worth  of  the  body  of  ideas  which 
it  presents.  Hence  there  are  no  notes  or  editorial  comments,  and 
the  original  text  has  been  left  unaltered  except  in  the  case  of  a 
few  obviously  unintentional  misprints.  The  descriptions  of  cases 
appended  to  the  original  are  here  omitted. 

Committee  on  Publications, 

Teachers'  College,  Columbia  University, 

June,  1907. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE. 

Preface 5 

Bibliography 7 

Introduction 9 

1st.     Origin  of  the  Methodical  Treatment  of  Idiots 12 

ad.      History  of  the  Physiological  Method  of  Education 18 

PART  I— IDIOCY 

Definition 29 

Cause 29 

Circumstances  in  which  it  is  produced 30 

Endemic  Idiocy 32 

Idiocy,  simple,  of  Central  or  Peripheral  Origin 34 

Pathology 34 

Appearance  in  Infancy 39 

Motor  Symptoms 41 

Sensorial  Symptoms 43 

Deficiencies  of  Speech  and  Intellect 46 

Moral  Sense 47 

Comparison  of  Idiots  with  their  Congeners 48 

The  Protection  they  need 53 

The  Anthropological  Discoveries  made  and  expected  from  the  Study 

of  Idiocy 55 

PART  II— PHYSIOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

Method 57 

Prevention  of  Idiocy 59 

Treatment  in  Infancy 60 

General  Precepts 62 

Where  Education  begins 6a 

System  defined 67 

Training  of  Movement 68 

Two  Immobilities 71 

Locomotion 74 

Prehension 77 

Training  of  the  Hand 81 

Correction  of  Special  Anomalies 83 

A  few  Apparatuses  of  Special  Gymnastics 84 

Imitation,  Personal  and  Objective 89 

Education  of  the  Senses 93 

Teaching  the  Speech 106 

Teaching  the  Elementary  Notions iiS 


4  Contents. 

PAGE. 

Teaching  Drawing,  Writing,  and  Reading 120 

Passive  and  Active,  Individual  and  Group  Teaching 125 

Reading-matter 129 

Object-lessons 131 

Qualification,  Actions,  Relations,  Numbers 132 

Memory  and  Imagination 13S 

R^sum^  of  the  Method 139 

PART  III— MORAL  TREATMENT 

History 148 

Definition 149 

Analysis 150 

Authority  and  its  Modes  of  Expression 152 

Command,  Immediate,  Mediate,  Contingent,  etc 157 

Moralization  of  Food,  Labor,  etc 164 

Pleasures,  Pains,  and  Affection 167 

Socializing  Idiots 170 

Fotmdation  of  the  Moral  Treatment 170 

PART  IV— INSTITUTION 

Name 172 

Buildings  and  Internal  Arrangements i74 

Out-door  Resorts 182 

Intellectual  Institution 183 

Selection  of  the  Pupils. 183 

Their  Number  and  Grouping 185 

Officers,  Attendants,  Matrons 188 

Teachers,  Gymnasts,  etc 191 

Superintendent 193 

What  Society  expects  in  return  for  the  Foundation  of  the  Institution 

for  Idiotic  Children 201 


PREFACE 


Twenty  years  have  passed  away  since  the  publication  of 
any  treatise  on  the  treatment  of  idiots.*  This  period  has 
been  appropriately  filled  by  the  practical  labor  of  founding 
schools  and  endowing  public  institutions  for  these  children. 
The  preceding  period  had  been  occupied  by  the  framing  of 
the  physiological  method  of  education;  and  the  next  period 
will  be  devoted  to  new  studies  on  the  subject. 

This  present  time  seems  therefore  particularly  favorable 
for  the  writing  of  a  book  embodying:  ist,  Our  present  knowl- 
edge on  idiocy ;  2d,  The  method  of  treating  idiots ;  3d,  The 
practice  of  the  same;  and  4th,  An  outline  of  the  direction  to 
be  given  to  the  scientific  efforts  of  the  friends  of  idiots,  and 
of  the  apostles  of  universal  education. 

Deprived  of  language  by  voluntary  change  of  nationality! 
and  engaged  in  the  fulfilment  of  private  duties,  we  did  not 
take  our  share  in  the  treatment  of  idiots  in  this  Republic; 
but  we  were  never  distant  from  the  subject  and  we  reentered 
it  as  soon  as  circumstances  permitted. 

We  accepted  the  hospitalities  of  the  New  York  Institution 
as  one  of  our  means  of  study.  The  superintendents  of  all  the 
schools  for  idiots,  and  one  of  their  trustees,  tendered  their 
assistance  in  the  shape  of  liberal  subscriptions ;  William  Wood 
undertook  the  publishing,  though  knowing  that  it  could  not 
be  of  pecuniary  advantage;  and  Dr.  E.  C.  Seguin  revised  the 
work  with  the  double  object  in  view  of  saving  its  language 
from  our  Gallicisms  and  from  common-place  corrections ; 
cheerless  task  for  any  one  but  for  a  tender  and  dutiful  son, 
in  doing  which,  he  has  fathered  the  last-born  of  the  mind 
of  his  father.  Unhappily,  towards  the  close  of  the  work,  it 
became  necessary,  on  account  of  his  health,  to  leave  for 
Europe,  so  that  the  defects  left  therein  will  be  ours. 

New  York,  May,  1866. 

*  While  these  pages  are  passing  through  the  press  we  are  apprised  of  the  publication  o£ 
the  treatises  of  Drs.  Down,  Duncan,  and  Millard,  to  which  we  are  happy  to  give  a  place 
in  our  bibliographic  list. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


1.  Note  Historique  sur  le  Sauvage  de  L'Aveyron.  Prof.  Bonaterre, 
Paris:  1799. 

2.  Discussions  on  the  same  subject  between  Pinel  and  Itard,  before 
the  French  Academy  of  Sciences.     See  Memoires:  1799. 

3.  De  L' Education  d'un  Homme  Sauvage.    Itard.     Paris:  1801. 

4.  Rapport  sur  le  Sauvage  de  L'Aveyron.     Itard.     Paris:  1807. 

5.  Observations  pour  servir  a  I'histoire  de  I'ldiotie.  Dans  Les  Maladies 
Mentales,  Esquirol.     Paris:  1828. 

6.  R^sum^  de  ce  que  nous  avons  fait  pendant  quatorze  mois.  Es- 
quirol et  Seguin.     Paris:  1839. 

7.  Conseils  a  M.  O.,  sur  L'Education  de  son  enfant  idiot.  E.  Seguin. 
Paris:  1839. 

8.  Theorie  et  Pratique  de  L'Education  des  Idiots  (Lemons  aux  jeunes 
idiots  de  L' Hospice  des  Incurables),  premiere  partie.  E.  Seguin: 
1841. 

9.  Ditto.    Seconde  partie.     Paris:  1842. 

10.  Hygiene  et  Education  (extrait  des  Annales  d' Hygiene  et  de  Medi- 
cine legale).    E.  Seguin.    Paris:  1843. 

11.  De  L'Idiotie  chez  les  Enf ants.     Felix  Voisin.     Paris:  1843. 

12.  Essai  sur  L'Idiotie.    Belhomme.    Paris:  1843. 

13.  Goitre  and  Cretinism.     Dr.  Niepce.     Paris:  1845. 

14.  Images  Gradu^es  a  I'usage  des  Enfants  Arri^r^s  et  Idiots.    E.  Seguin. 
Paris:  1846. 

15.  Traitement  Moral,  Hygiene  et  Education  des  Idiots,  etc.    E.  Seguin. 
Paris:  1846. 

16.  Remarks,  Theoretical  and  Practical,   on  the   Education  of  Idiots 
and   Children    of    Weak   Intellect.    W.    R.    Scott,   Ph.D.    London: 

1847- 

17.  J.  R.  Pereire,  Analyse  Raisonn^e  de  sa  M^thode.    E.  Seguin.    Paris: 

1847. 
x8.     Idiocy,  by  Forbes  Winslow.     London:  1848. 

19.  Cretinism  and  its  Treatment.     Dr.  L.  Guggenbuhl.     Berne:  1848. 

20.  Cause  and  Prevention  of  Idiocy.     Dr.  S.  G.  Howe.     Boston,  Mass.: 
1848. 

21.  Report  of  the  Commission  created  by  the  King  of  Sardinia  for  the 
Study  of  Cretinism.    Turin:  1850. 

22.  Researches  on  Idiocy  and  Cretinism  in  Norway.    Dr.  Stalst.    Christ- 
iania:  1851. 

23.  Statistic  Studies  on  Idiocy.     Hubertz.     Copenhagen:  185 1. 

24.  Die   Heilung   und  Verhutung   des   Cretinismus   und  Ihre  Neuesten 
Fortschritte.      Dr.  J.  Guggenbfihl.     Bern  un  St.  Gallen:  1835. 

25.  Teaching  the  Idiot.      Rev.   Edwin  Sidney,  A.   M.     London:   1854. 


8  Bibliography. 

26.  On  the  Possibility  of  Educating  Idiot  Children,  etc.  Dr.  Erchricht. 
Copenhagen: 1854. 

27.  Cretinism  and  Idiocy.    Dr.  Blackie.    Edinburgh:  1855. 

28.  Idiot  Training.     Rev.  Edwin  Sidney.     London:  1855. 

29.  Idiots  and  the  Efforts  for  their  Improvement.  Dr.  L.  P.  Brockett. 
Hartford,  Conn.:  1856. 

30.  Report  of  Commissioners  on  Idiocy  in  Connecticut.  Dorchester, 
Knight  &  Brockett:  1856. 

31.  Essay  on  Idiots'  Instruction.     Dr.  Freedman  Kern.     Gohlis:  1857. 

32.  Handbook  on  Idiocy.    James  Abbot.    London:    1857. 

^^.  Die  gegenwartige  Lage  der  Cretinen,  Blodfinnigen  und  Idioten  in 
den  Christlichen  Landem.     Julius  Desselhoff.     Bonn:  1857. 

34.  The  Mind  Unveiled.     Dr.    J.  N.  Kerlin.     Phila.:i858. 

35.  Two  Visits  to  Earlwood  Asylum  for  Idiots.  Rev.  Edwin  Sidney, 
A.M.    London,  1859,  1861. 

36.  The  Method  of  Drill,  the  Gymnastic  Exercises,  and  the  Manner  of 
Teaching  Speaking  used  at  Essex  Hall,  Colchester,  for  Idiots,  Simple- 
tons, and  Feeble-minded  Children.  E.  Martin  Duncan,  M.B.  (Lond.). 
London:  1861. 

37.  Some  Suggestions  on  the  Principles  and  Methods  of  Elementary  In- 
struction. Dr.  H.  B.  Wilbur,  Superintendent  of  the  New  York 
State  Asylum  for  Idiots.     Albany,  N.  Y. :  1862. 

38.  Essay  on  Idiocy.    Dr.  Coldstream.    Edinburgh:  1862. 

39.  The  Idiot  and  His  Helpers.  W.  Millard,  Essex  Hall,  Colchester: 
1864. 

40.  Lunac}^  and  Law,  together  with  Hints  on  the  Treatment  of  Idiots. 
F.  E.  D.  Byrne,  L.R.C.P.,  and  M.R.C.S.     London:     1864. 

41.  A  Fete-day  at  Earlswood  Asylum  for  Idiots,  June,  1864.  Rev. 
Edwin  Sidney.     London:   1864. 

42.  The  Training  of  Idiotic  and  Feeble-minded  Children.  Cheyne  Brady, 
Esq.,  M.R.I.H.    Dublin:  1864. 

43.  Idiocy,  its  Diagnosis  and  Treatment  by  the  Physiological  Method, 
etc.     E.  Seguin.     Albany,  N.  Y. :  1864. 

44.  Idiot  Asylums.     In  Edinburgh  Review,  No.  CCXLIX.     July:  1865. 

45.  A  Treatise  on  Idiocy  and  its  Cognate  Affections.  J.  Langdon  H. 
Down,  M.D.,  Lond.,  Physician  to  the  Asylum  for  Idiots.  (In  press.) 
London. 

46.  A  Manual  for  the  Classification,  Training,  and  Education  of  the 
Feeble-minded,  Imbecile,  and  Idiotic.  By  P.  Martin  Duncan,  M.B., 
Lond.,  F.G.S.,  F.A.S.L.,  Honorary  Consulting  Surgeon  to  the  East- 
em  Counties  Asylum  for  Idiots  and  Imbeciles;  and  William  Millard, 
Superintendent  of  the  Eastern  Counties  Asylum  for  Idiots  and  Im- 
beciles. 

There  have  been,  no  doubt,  many  other  valuable  publications  on  the 
subject;  for  instance,  the  Essays  of  Dr.  J.  Conolly  and  Dr.  Twining,  but 
we  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  them.  To  these  must  be  added  the  An- 
nual and  other  Reports  of  the  various  Institutions  for  Idiots  in  this 
country  and  abroad. 


IDIOCY,  AND  ITS  TREATMENT 


INTRODUCTION 

Idiots  have  been  educated  in  all  times  by  the  devotion  of 
kind-hearted  and  intelligent  persons  and  with  the  best  means 
they  could  borrow  from  ordinary  schools ;  until  the  progress 
of  physiology  opened  the  possibility  of  the  adaptation  of 
its  principles  to  the  general  training  of  children.  But  other 
elements  were  mature.  The  right  of  all  to  education  was 
acknowledged  if  not  yet  fulfilled  with  the  imperfect  means 
at  command;  the  deaf  and  the  blind  were  already  instructed 
by  special  methods;  and  several  children,  marked  by  nature, 
accident,  or  crime,  with  the  characters  of  idiocy,  had  been 
subjected  to  physiological  and  psychological  experiments. 
Can  idiots  be  educated,  treated,  improved,  cured?  To  put  the 
question  was  to  solve  it. 

There  is  a  sort  of  mysterious  upheaval  of  mankind  in  the 
way  new  things  spring  up,  which  commands  our  awe.  At 
a  given  hour,  anything  wanted  by  the  race  makes  its  appear- 
ance simultaneously  from  so  many  quarters,  that  the  title  of 
a  single  individual  to  discovery  is  always  contested,  and 
seems  clearly  to  belong  to  God  manifested  through  man.  The 
origin  of  the  methodical  treatment  of  idiots,  though  apparently 
of  secondary  importance,  is  nevertheless  one  of  these  neces- 
sary events,  coming  when  needed  for  the  co-ordination  of 
progress.  Nothing  can  give  a  better  instance  of  the  simul- 
taneity of  feeling  this  new  idea  encountered,  than  the  readi- 
ness with  which  all  nations  encouraged  the  formation  of 
schools  for  idiots,  and  the  unconcerted  unanimity  of  lan- 
guage elicited  at  the  foundation  of  these  establishments  by 
minds  separated  otherwise  by  vast  intellectual  distances. 

It  was  our  fortune  to  be  a  guest  at  one  of  these  solemnities, 
where  individuals  certainly  spoke  more  the  language  of  man- 
kind than  their  own ;  manifesting  clearly  wherefrom  the  spirit 
of  the  occasion  came.  It  was  at  the  ceremony  of  the  laying 
of  the   corner-stone   of  the    first   school   built   expressly   for 


lo  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

idiots  in  this  country  at  Syracuse,  New  York,  September 
8,  1854. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  J.  May  began  in  these  terms :  "  Twenty- 
five  years  ago,  or  more,  in  the  early  days  of  my  ministry,  I 
encountered,  as  every  man  who  thinks  at  all  must  sooner 
or  later  encounter,  the  great  problem  of  the  existence  of 
evil — the  question,  how  the  Good  God,  the  Heavenly  Father, 
could  permit  his  children  of  earth  to  be  so  tempted,  tried, 
and  afflicted  as  they  are.  I  was  unable  to  avoid  this  per- 
plexing subject;  so  I  met  it  as  best  I  could,  in  full  faith 
that  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God  will  be  justified  in 
all  his  works,  and  in  all  his  ways,  whenever  they  shall  be 
fully  understood. 

"  I  endeavored  to  lead  my  audience  to  see  what,  in  almost 
every  direction,  was  very  apparent  to  myself,  that  evil  is  a 
means  to  some  higher  good ;  never  an  end ;  never  permitted 
for  its  own  sake,  certainly  not  for  the  sake  of  vengeance. 

"  I  was  able  easily  to  trace  out  the  good  effects  of  many 
evils ;  to  show  how  they  had  stimulated  mankind  to  exertion 
and  contrivance,  physical  and  mental ;  to  tell  of  the  discov- 
eries, inventions,  and  improvements  that  were  the  conse- 
quences. In  particular,  I  dwelt  upon  the  sad  privations 
those  individuals  are  subjected  to  who  were  born  deaf  or 
blind.  The  institution  of  the  Asylum  for  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb,  at  Hartford,  was  then  of  recent  date,  and  a  school 
for  the  blind  was  said  to  have  been  opened  in  Paris.  These 
institutions  were  then  of  great  interest  to  the  philanthropist ; 
and  I  found  no  difficulty  in  showing  that  the  philosophy  of 
mind,  and  the  science  and  art  of  education  in  general,  had 
been  much  improved  by  the  earnest  and  successful  endeavors 
which  benevolent  persons  had  made  to  open  communications 
with  the  minds  and  hearts  of  persons  deprived  of  one  or  more 
of  the  most  important  senses. 

"  But  there  was  idiocy — idiocy  so  appalling  in  its  appear- 
ance, so  hopeless  in  its  nature ;  what  could  be  the  use  of 
such  an  evil?  It  were  not  enough  to  point  to  it  as  a  conse- 
quence of  the  violation  of  some  of  the  essential  laws  of 
generation.  If  that  were  all,  its  end  would  be  punishment. 
I  ventured,  therefore,  to  declare  with  an  emphasis  enhanced, 
somewhat,  perhaps,  by  a  lurking  distrust  of  the  prediction'. 


Introduction.  II 

that  the  time  would  come  when  access  would  be  found  ta 
the  idiotic  brain ;  the  light  of  intelligence  admitted  into  its 
dark  chambers,  and  the  whole  race  be  benefited  by  some  new 
discovery  on  the  nature  of  mind.  It  seems  to  some  of  my 
hearers,  more  than  to  myself,  a  daring  conjecture. 

"  Two  or  three  years  afterwards  I  read  a  brief  announce- 
ment that  in  Paris  they  had  succeeded  in  educating  idiots. 
I  flew  to  her  who  would  be  most  likely  to  sympathize  in 
my  joy,  shouting,  '  Wife,  my  prophecy  is  fulfilled !  Idiots 
have  been  educated ! '     .      .      .     " 

When  men  are  gathered  together  for  a  common  purpose, 
their  object  being  common,  their  minds  become  blended; 
they  cease  to  think  as  many ;  the  same  idea  flows  from  all 
brains.  So  was  it  at  this  ceremony.  Dr.  H.  B.  Wilbur,  Gov. 
W.  Hunt,  the  Hons.  E.  W.  Leavenworth,  C.  H.  Morgan, 
James  H.  Titus,  the  steadfast  friends  of  the  new  institution, 
spoke  in  the  same  strain.  Letters  from  involuntary  absentees. 
Gov.  J.  C.  Spencer,  Simeon  Draper,  William  H.  Seward,  breathed 
the  same  spirit.  Dr.  S.  G.  Howe's  happy  words  concluded: 
"  The  institution  whose  foundation-stone  is  to  be  laid,  will 
be  like  a  last  link  in  a  chain — it  will  complete  the  circle  of 
the  State's  charities,  which  will  then  embrace  every  class 
whose  infirmities  call  for  public  aid.  It  has  long  included  the 
deaf  mutes,  the  blind  and  the  insane  and  it  is  now  to  include 
the  idiots — a  class  far,  far  more  deplorably  afflicted  than 
either  of  the  others. 

"  The  ceremony  will  be  fleeting  and  soon  forgotten ;  the 
building  itself  will  in  time  decay,  but  the  institution  will 
last  while  the  State  lasts ;  for  when  the  people  once  recognize 
the  claim  of  any  class  of  unfortunates,  there  is  no  fear  of 
their  ever  repudiating  the  debt  of  charity.  The  bonds  lie 
deep  in  the  heart  of  humanity  as  the  foundation-stone  you 
now  lay  lies  deep  in  the  bosom  of  the  earth." 

Even  we,  though  a  stranger,  unable  to  appreciate  the  ele- 
vated tone  of  these  aspirations,  were  rendered  capable  of 
expressing  cognate  feelings  by  the  contagious  influence  of 
the  engrossing  topic.  We  said,  "  God  has  scattered  among 
us,  rare  as  the  possessors  of  talent  or  genius,  the  idiot,  the 
blind,  the  deaf  mute,  in  order  to  bind  the  talented  to  the 
incapable,  the  rich  to  the  needy,  all  men  to  each  other,  by 


12  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

a  tie  of  indissoluble  solidarity.  The  old  bonds  are  dissolving ; 
man  is  already  unwilling  to  contribute  money  or  palaces  for 
the  support  of  indolent  classes;  but  he  is  every  day  more 
ready  to  build  palaces  and  give  annuities  for  the  indigent 
or  infirm,  the  chosen  friends  of  Jesus  Christ.  To  see  that 
stone,  token  of  a  new  alliance  between  humanity  and  a  class 
hitherto  neglected,  is  the  greatest  joy  of  my  life;  for  I,  too, 
have  labored  for  the  poor  idiot.     ..." 

These  were  a  few  of  the  transient  expressions:  of  the  lasting 
feeling  evinced  at  that  memorable  meeting.  Once  awakened 
in  our  bosoms,  these  feelings  live  for  ever,  and  our  actions 
are  only  their  translation  in   deeds  and  monuments. 

To  render  these  feelings  into  facts,  one  nation  after  an- 
other has  acknowledged  its  duty  towards  the  idiot.  In 
Switzerland,  Dr.  J.  Guggenbiihl  began  to  study  cretinism 
in  1839,  and  opened  his  school  on  the  Abendberg  in  1842, 
simultaneously  with  that  of  M.  Saegert,  at  Berlin;  both,  it  is 
said,  without  having  any  knowledge  of  our  practice,  or  of 
our  four  successive  pamphlets  on  the  treatment  and  education 
of  idiots,  already  published  and  exhausted.  In  1846,  Dr. 
Kern  established  a  school  at  Leipsig;  and  the  writings  of 
Drs.  A.  Reed,  Twining  and  J.  Conoll)-  gave  birth  to  the 
first  English  institution  at  Bath.  In  1848,  Sir  S.  M.  Peto 
devoted  his  own  mansion,  Essex  Hall,  Colchester,  to  the 
same  destination.  Scotland  opened  her  first  institution  in 
1852;  and  in  June,  1853,  was  laid  by  Prince  Albert,  the 
corner-stone  of  the  school  of  Earlswood,  Surrey.  Nearly  all 
the  nations  of  Europe  followed  these  examples. 

As  early  as  1842-3,  Horace  Mann  and  George  Sumner  had 
become  familiar  with  our  personal  labors  at  Bicetre,  on  which 
they  wrote  approvingly,  sending  over  the  seeds  which  soon 
rose  from  American  soil.  Dr.  S.  B.  Woodward,  Dr.  Backus, 
of  Rochester,  New  York,  Judge  Byington,  Dr.  S.  G.  Howe, 
Dr.  E.  Jarvis,  and  Dr.  H.  B.  Wilbur,  all  of  Massachusetts, 
were  the  first  to  move  the  public  opinion  of  the  Legislatures 
of  their  respective  States.  Indeed,  Dr.  Backus  went  so  far 
as  to  report  a  bill  to  the  Senate,  at  Albany,  on  the  13th  of 
January,  1846,  for  the  purchase  of  a  site,  and  the  erection 
of   suitable   buildings,   for   an   asylum   for   idiots.     This   bill 


Introduction.  13 

passed  the  Senate,  and  was  at  first  concurred  in  by  the 
Assembly,  but  subsequently  rejected  on  political  grounds. 
In  1847  it  J^ist  with  a  similar  fate.  Massachusetts,  a  few 
days  behind  New  York  at  the  start,  succeeded  sooner.  The 
22d  of  January,  1846,  the  Hon.  Mr.  Byington  offered  a  reso- 
lution to  the  Legislature,  for  the  appointment  of  a  commis- 
sion to  investigate  the  condition  of  idiots  in  that  State.  The 
resolution  passed  the  House ;  Dr.  S.  G.  Howe,  Judge  Bying- 
ton, and  G.  Kimball  were  appointed  Commissioners.  Their 
report  was  favorable  to  the  formation  of  an  experimental 
school  for  idiots,  which  was  opened  in  October  of  the  same 
year,  and  remains  in  its  permanent  organization  under  the 
able  supervision  of  Dr.  Howe. 

But  private  enterprise  moves  faster  than  political  bodies. 
Dr.  H.  B.  Wilbur  had  already  opened  in  July,  at  Barre,  Massa- 
chusetts, the  private  institution  which  he  left  only  at  the 
call  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  which  Dr.  George  Brown 
has  since  so  successfully  conducted. 

In  1851,  the  State  of  New  York  established  an  experi- 
mental school  at  Albany,  for  which  the  services  of  Dr. 
Wilbur  were  secured.  The  result  of  this  experiment,  pur- 
posely carried  on  under  the  eyes  of  the  Legislature,  was 
so  satisfactory  that  a  permanent  State  institution  was  erected 
in  1854. 

In  1852,  a  private  school  had  been  founded  in  Germantown 
by  Mr.  J.  B.  Richards,  which  soon  became  the  "  Pennsylvania 
Training  School  for  Idiots,"  at  Media.  The  States  of  Con- 
necticut and  Ohio  opened  their  institutions,  respectively,  in 
1855  and  1857;  Kentucky  in  i860;  and  Illinois  in  1865.  Thus 
the  United  States  has  eight  of  these  schools,  in  which  nearly 
one  thousand  children  are  constantly  in  training.  And  this 
is  only  a  beginning.  All  the  Western  and  Southern  States 
will  soon  possess  similar  establishments ;  and  the  city  of 
New  York,  with  its  immense  suburbs,  cannot  much  longer 
send  its  idiots  to  the  northern  climate  of  Syracuse,  depriving 
them  of  the  warmth  of  the  sea-shore,  and  of  the  visits  of  their 
friends.  But  more,  New  York  city  must  have  its  institution 
for  idiots,  because  it  contains  the  mature  talents  and  growing 
capacities  in  all  the  branches  of  human  inquiry,  whose  con- 


14  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

course  must  be  insured  to  perfect  the  method  of  treatment 
•of  these  children,  and  to  deduce  therefrom  the  important 
discoveries  justly  expected  in  anthropology. 

If  we  turn  our  attention  from  these  monuments  of  philan- 
thropy to  the  filiation  of  the  abstract  idea  realized  by  their 
erection,  we  see  a  spectacle  more  imposing  still.  That  idea 
■of  finding  modes  of  training,  natural  and  yet  powerful  enough 
to  bring  into  physiological  activity  impaired  functions,  and 
even  atrophied  organisms,  did  not  come  directly  into  the 
human  mind.  Like  nearly  all  discoveries,  it  came  by  side- 
views  of  the  problem,  till  a  man  looking  at  it  in  full  face 
solved  it  by  a  mighty  effort. 

Thus  the  institutions  for  deaf  mutes  of  Paris,  Groningen, 
Bordeaux,  Hartford  (Conn.),  etc.,  have  been  cumbered  from 
their  beginning  with  applications  for  the  admission  of  idiots, 
and  have  kept  the  record  of  the  improvement  of  some  of 
them,  educated  side  by  side  with  the  deaf,  by  the  ordinary  process 
of  teaching;  trials  dear  to  charity,  like  those  of  private  indi- 
viduals, but  deprived  of  philosophical  import.  On  the  other 
hand,  how  often  children,  rendered  artificially  idiotic  or 
imbecile  by  ill-treatment  and  isolation  in  many  forms,  have 
excited  the  pity  of  their  age,  and  thereby  were  made  recipients 
of  the  care  of  the  most  philosophical  minds.  Everybody  will 
discriminate  between  these  two  antecedents ;  the  former  doing 
good  to  individuals,  the  latter  preparing  the  way  for  the 
discover}'. 

The  record  of  these  latter  children  is  scant  as  well  as 
imperfect,  extending  to  a  period  in  which  scientific  obser- 
vation was  nearly  unknown.  We  owe  to  the  great  Linnaeus 
a  list  of  ten  of  these  phenomena  which  he,  curiously  enough, 
considered  as  forming  a  variety  in  the  genus  Homo.  We 
are  indebted  to  Bonaterre,  Professor  of  Natural  History  in 
the  Central  School  of  the  Department  of  Aveyron,  France, 
for  his  quotation  of  it,  for  curious  researches  upon  each  one 
of  these  ten  savages,  and  for  his  own  notice  of  the  eleventh, 
"  The  Savage  of  the  Aveyron."  We  transcribe  from  our  own 
copy  of  that  extremely  rare  pamphlet. 

ist.  Juvenis  Lupinus  Hessensis.  1544.  (A  young  man 
found  in  Hesse  among  wolves.) 


Introduction.  15 

2d.  Juvenis  Ursinus  Lithuanus.  1661.  (A  young  man 
found  among  bears  in  Lithuania.) 

3d.  Juvenis  Ovinus  Hibernus.  Tulp.  Obs.  IV.  (A  young 
man  found  among  wild  sheep  in  Ireland.) 

4th,  Juvenis  Bovinus  Bambergensis.  Camerar.  (A  young 
man  found  among  herds  of  oxen  near  Bamberg.) 

5th.  Juvenis  Hannoverianus.  1724.  (A  young  man  found 
in   Hanover.) 

6th.  Lueri  Pyrenaici.  1719.  (Two  boys  found  in  the 
Pyrenees.) 

7th.  Puella  Transisalana.  1717.  (A  girl  found  in  the  Dutch 
Province  of  Over-Yssel.) 

8th.  Puella  Campanica.  1731.  (A  girl  found  in  Cham- 
pagne and  since  named  Mile.  Leblanc.) 

9th.  Johannes  Leodisensis.     Boerhaave.     (John  of  Liege.) 

loth.  Puella  Karpfensis.     1767.     (The  girl  of  Karpfen.) 

nth.  Juvenis  Averionensis.  Anno  Reipublicoe  Gallicoe 
octavo.  (The  savage  of  the  Aveyron,  in  the  year  eighth  of 
the  French  Republic.) 

It  would  be  curious,  but  unprofitable,  to  follow  the  scanty 
traces  of  method  and  education  left  in  the  legends  concern- 
ing the  ten  first  cases.  "  Such  was,"  says  Itard,  "  in  those 
remote  times  the  defective  march  of  studies,  the  mania  of 
explanation,  the  uncertainty  of  hypothesis,  the  exclusiveness 
of  abstract  thinking,  that  observation  was  set  at  naught,  and 
these  precious  facts  were  lost  for  the  natural  history  of  man." 
But  the  rooted  faith  in  which  Itard  himself  was  an  adept, 
that  if  a  true  savage — meaning  a  savage,  savage  even  to 
savage  tribes — could  be  found,  his  education  would  evidence 
the  natural  springs  of  the  human  mind,  obliterated  in  us  by 
artificial  culture;  that  faith,  which  lighted  before  the  psy- 
chologist the  same  Ignis  Fatuus  that  the  philosopher's  stone 
raised  before  the  alchemist,  gives  a  sure  guarantee  that  none 
of  the  means  those  times  could  afford  were  spared  to  develop 
the  faculties  long  dormant  in  these  unfortunates,  under  the 
cover  of  animal  instinct  and  habit.  But  we  have  to  come 
to  the  eleventh  case,  that  of  the  Savage  of  the  Aveyron,  to 
emerge  from  fiction  into  history ;  there  we  begin  to  feel  that 
we  are  on  scientific  ground.    The  first  part  of  his  biography. 


i6  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatmeiit. 

written  previously  to  his  education  by  the  man  of  clear  and 
simple  talent  already  named.  Prof.  Bonaterre,  and  the  second 
and  third  parts  by  his  inimitable  teacher,  constitute  the  most 
complete  record  of  any  such  case. 

Prof.  Bonaterre  represents  his  protege  as  unused  to  our 
food,  and  selecting  his  aliments  by  the  smell,  like  the  savages 
of  Ireland,  Hanover,  and  Liege;  lying  flat  on  the  ground, 
and  immersing  his  chin  in  the  water  to  drink,  as  did  the 
girl  of  Chalons  in  Champagne;  and  like  her  tearing  all  sorts 
of  garments  and  trying  constantly  to  escape;  walking  often 
on  all  fours,  like  the  boys  of  Ireland,  Hesse,  and  Bamberg; 
fighting  with  his  teeth,  like  the  savages  of  Lithuania  and 
Bamberg;  giving  few  marks  of  intelligence,  like  the  Lithu- 
anian child;  having  no  articulate  language,  and  even  appear- 
ing devoid  of  the  natural  faculty  of  speech,  like  the  savages 
of  Ireland,  Lithuania,  and  Hanover;  kind,  complaisant,  and 
pleased  at  receiving  caresses,  like  the  girl  of  Over-Yssel.  The 
Professor  also  thought  that,*  "  a  phenomenon  like  this  would 
furnish  to  philosophy  and  natural  history  important  notions 
on  the  original  constitution  of  man,  and  on  the  development 
of  his  primitive  faculties ;  provided  that  the  state  of  imbecility 
we  have  noticed  in  this  child  does  not  oifer  an  obstacle  to  his 
instruction/' 

With  this  remark,  Bonaterre  left  the  boy  in  the  hands  of 
"  that  philosophical  institutor,  who  has  accomplished  so  many 
prodigies  in  this  class  of  teaching;  and  it  is  to  be  expected 
that  the  child  just  confided  to  his  care,  may  sometime  become 
the  emulator  of  Massieu,  Fontaine,  and  Mathieu  "  (noted  deaf 
mutes 'taught  in  the  school  of  Paris). 

This  institutor,  Sicard,.  had  succeeded  the  Abbe  De  L'Epee, 
and  Bonaterre  thought  him  the  man  to  perform  upon  this 
savage  the  miracle  dreamed  of  by  De  Condillac.  But  he 
was  mistaken;  Sicard  soon  tired  of  the  uncouth  being  who 
was  throwing  away  his  clothes,  and  trying  to  escape  even 
by  the  windows ;  and  left  him  to  wander  neglected  in  the 
halls  of  the  school  for  deaf  mutes.  But  the  child  had  been 
seen  by  all  Paris.  If  the  crowd  of  visitors  found  him  an 
object  of  disgust,  he  continued  to  excite  among  thinkers  a 

♦Bonaterre;  Notice  Historique  sur  le  Sauvage  de  I'Aveyron.     Paris.     1799-     P-  5°- 


Introduction.  17 

lively  interest.  Some  of  those  who  had  held  converse  with 
Franklin  and  Thomas  Paine  on  the  momentous  questions  of 
the  closing  century,  were  still  living;  and  by  them  the  subject 
was  brought  before  the  Academy,  where  it  produced  exciting 
discussions,  in  which  two  men  were  prominent:  Pinel,  Phy- 
sician-in-Chief  to  the  Insane  at  Bicetre,  who  declared  the  child 
idiotic;  and  Itard,  Physician  of  the  Deaf  Mute  Institution, 
who  asserted  that  he  was  simply  wild,  or  entirely  untaught. 
This  discrepancy  of  opinion  is  thus  summed  up  by  the  latter:* 

"  The  Citizen  Pinel  established  between  several  children 
of  Bicetre,  irrevocably  struck  with  idiotism,  and  the  child 
object  of  our  present  study,  the  most  rigorous  analogies, 
which  would  necessarily  give  for  result  a  perfect  identity 
between  those  young  idiots  and  the  Savage  of  the  Aveyron, 
That  identity  was  leading  to  the  conclusion  that,  affected 
with  a  malady  to  this  time  looked  upon  as  incurable,  he  was 
not  susceptible  of  any  sort  of  sociability  or  instruction.  It 
was  accordingly  the  conclusion  drawn  by  the  Citizen  Pinel ; 
which  he,  meantime,  accompanied  with  the  expression  of  that 
philosophical  doubt  spread  in  all  his  writings,  and  to  be  found 
in  the  previsions  of  any  man  who  appreciates  the  results 
of  the  science  of  prognosis,  only  as  a  more  or  less  certain 
calculus  of  probabilities. 

"I  did  not  partake  this  unfavorable  opinion;  and,  despite 
the  truthfulness  of  the  tableau,  and  the  closeness  of  resem- 
blance, I  dared  to  conceive  some  hopes.  I  founded  them 
on  the  double  consideration  of  the  cause  and  the  curability  of 
that  apparent  idiotism." 

Itard,  not  believing  idiocy  curable,  contrary  to  the  mis- 
givings of  Bonaterre,  and  to  the  all  but  convincing  demon- 
strations of  Pinel,  undertook  this  education.  In  devoting 
himself  to  this  case,  his  object  was  not  to  improve  or  cure 
an  idiot;  it  was  "to  solve  the  metaphysical  problem  of  de- 
termining what  might  be  the  degree  of  intelligence  and  the 
nature  of  the  ideas  in  a  lad,  who,  deprived  from  birth  of  all 
education,  should  have  lived  entirely  separated  from  the  indi- 
viduals of  his  kind."  Itard  embodied  this  programme  in 
five  propositions : 

*  Itard,  De  I'Education  d'un  Homme  Sauvage.     Paris.      1801.     Pp.  14,  15. 
2 


i8  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

"  1st.  To  endear  him  to  social  life,  by  making  it  more 
congenial  than  the  one  he  was  now  leading;  and,  above  all, 
more  like  that  he  had  but  recently  quitted. 

"  2d.  To  awaken  his  nervous  sensibility,  by  the  most  ener- 
getic stimulants;  and  at  other  times  by  quickening  the  affec- 
tions of  the  soul. 

"  3d.  To  extend  the  sphere  of  his  ideas,  by  creating  new 
wants,  and  multiplying  his  associations  with  surrounding 
beings. 

''  4th.  To  lead  him  to  the  use  of  speech,  by  determining 
the  exercise  of  imitation,  under  the  spur  of  necessity. 

"  5th.  To  exercise,  during  a  certain  time,  the  simple  opera- 
tions of  his  mind  upon  his  physical  wants :  and  therefrom 
derive  the  application  of  the  same  to  objects  of  instruction." 

For  more  than  a  year  Itard  followed  this  psychological 
programme,  perfectly  well  adapted  to  the  education  of  a  sav- 
age. But  he  seems,  after  this  time,  to  have  suspected  that 
there  were  other  impediments  besides  savageness  in  his 
pupil;  for,  though  he  never  formally  acknowledged  it,  he 
framed,  about  1802,  an  entirely  new  programme,  more  fitted 
for  an  idiot  than  for  a  savage,  whose  foundation  was  physi- 
ology, and  whose  generality  embraced: 

"  ist.  The  development  of  the  senses. 

"  2d.  The  development  of  the  intellectual  faculties. 

"  3d.  The  development  of  the  affective  functions." 

This  evolution  of  the  mind  of  Itard,  founded,  no  doubt, 
upon  a  secret  consciousness  of  his  error  in  diagnosis,  forced 
him  to  link  his  labors  to  more  scientific  traditions.  Therefore 
we  cannot  very  well  proceed  in  the  narration  of  the  history 
of  his  idea,  without  tracing  it  back  to  its  origin. 

Since  Morgagni,  Boerhaave,  Haller,  had  brought  physiology 
to  its  proper  place,  that  is  to  say,  ahead  of  all  other  medical 
sciences,  it  had  been  considered  and  used  as  a  reliable  ele- 
ment of  progress  in  various  branches  of  anthropology. 
Among  the  special  labors  founded  upon  its  recent  discoveries, 
none  had  been  more  conspicuous  than  those  of  Jacob  Rodri- 
gues  Pereire,  who  taught  congenital  deaf  mutes  to  speak; 
communicating  to  them,  not  only  a  natural  voice  and  a  cor- 
rect pronunciation,  but  even  his  accent  gascon,  or  peculiar 
southern   emphasis.     So   says   every  one   who  followed    his 


Introduction.  19 

admirable  teachings,  Buifon,  Lecat,  Bezout,  Diderot,  etc.  So 
can  we  say  ourselves,  with  many  living  witnesses,  Charton, 
Carnot,  Leroux,  etc.,  who  have  seen  and  heard  in  1831,  in 
the  salons  of  the  rue  Monsigny,  Mile.  Marois,  the  last  surviving 
pupil  of  Pereire,  when  she  came  from  Orleans  to  visit  the 
then  unknown  grandsons  of  her  beloved  teacher.  Yes,  we 
heard,  decrepit,  that  voice  which  Buffon  heard  in  its  silvery 
tones  of  youth.  Unfortunately  we  were  too  young  and 
ignorant  to  pay  due  attention  to  this  wonder ;  and  our  rem- 
iniscences of  it  are  bare  of  the  particulars  which  could  make 
them  valuable. 

In  this  teaching,  Pereire  entered  into  communication  with 
his  pupils,  by  the  use  of,  first,  the  manual  alphabet  engraved 
in  the  curious  Spanish  book  of  Juan  Pablo  Bonnet,  "  Reduction 
de  IcLs  Letras,  y  arte  para  ensenar  a  hahlar  los  mudos.  Madrid: 
1620."  Second,  of  another  syllabic  manual  of  forty-odd  signs 
of  his  own  invention.  Third,  the  natural  resources  of  ex- 
pression offered  by  pantomime.  As  soon  as  Pereire  was  under- 
stood by  his  pupils  with  the  help  of  these  temporary  means 
of  communication,  he  commenced  to  teach  them  to  speak 
the  speech  proper,  derived  from  the  consciousness  of  the 
reciprocal  nature  of  language.  This  consciousness  could  only 
be  given  to  the  deaf  by  a  physiological  discovery.  Pereire 
analyzed  the  speech  into  two  elements :  the  sound,  and  the 
vibration  which  produces  it:  the  first  which  the  ear  alone 
can  appreciate,  the  second  that  any  flesh  vibrating  itself  may 
be  taught  to  perceive.  He  conceived  that  ordinary  men 
hear  the  sound,  without,  most  of  the  time,  noticing  the  vibra- 
tions; but  that  the  deaf,  who  cannot  hear  the  sound,  may 
nevertheless  be  made  the  recipients  of  vibrations.  Flence,  a 
given  vibration  producing  only  a  given  sound,  the  deaf  taught 
to  perceive  the  vibration,  could  not  imitate  it  without  repro- 
ducing likewise  the  corresponding  sound  of  language.  It  is 
thus  that  he  practically  made  his  pupils  hear  through  the 
skin,  and  utter  exactly  what  they  so  heard.  By  this  dis- 
covery Pereire  demonstrated  to  the  physiologists  of  his  day, 
that  all  the  senses  are  modifications  of  the  tact,  all  touch  of 
some  sort. 

Buffon,  taken  by  surprise  at  the  sight  of  the  deaf-speaking 
pupils  of  Pereire,  and  though  knowing  only  a  part  of  their 


20  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

mode  of  education,  confesses  to  the  novelty  of  the  discovery 
in  these  terms :  "  Nothing  could  show  more  conclusively  how 
much  the  senses  are  alike  at  the  bottom,  and  to  what  point 
they  may  supply  one  another." — Natural  History  of  Man,  ist 
volume,  first  edition. 

The  deaf  mutes  did  not  gain  by  this  discovery,  because 
their  succeeding  teachers  could  not  even  understand  what 
it  meant. 

But  important  conclusions  resulted  from  these  experiments. 

1st.  That  the  senses,  and  each  one  in  particular,  can  be 
submitted  to  physiological  training  by  which  their  primordial 
capability  may  be  indefinitely  intellectualized. 

2d.  That  one  sense  may  be  substituted  for  another  as  a 
means  of  comprehension  and  of  intellectual  culture. 

3d.  That  the  physiological  exercise  of  a  sense  corroborates 
the  action,  as  well  as  verifies  the  acquisitions  of  another. 

4th.  That  our  most  abstract  ideas  are  comparisons  and 
generalizations  by  the  mind  of  what  we  have  perceived 
through  our  senses. 

5th.  That  educating  the  modes  of  perception  is  to  prepare 
pabulum  for  the  mind  proper. 

6th.  That  sensations  are  intellectual  functions  performed 
through  external  apparatus  as  much  as  reasoning,  imagina- 
tion, etc.,  through  more  internal  organs. 

When  Pereire  was  implicitly  solving  all  these  problems  by 
his  demonstration  on  the  deaf  mutes  of  the  identity  of  all 
our  senses,  he  was  in  communication  with  Jean  Jacques 
Rousseau,  both  living  near  each  other  in  the  Rue  de  la  Platriere, 
which  has  since  received  the  name  of  one  of  them.  Pereire 
had  his  school  of  ten  to  fifteen  deaf  mutes  there,  and  Rousseau 
was  in  the  habit  of  coming  in,  in  a  friendly,  neighborly 
manner.  It  would  be  presumptuous  to  suppose  what  trans- 
pired between  these  two  men,  so  much  unlike  their  con- 
temporaries. Rousseau  so  shy,  but  so  extremely  eccentric; 
Pereire  so  modest,  but  so  intensely  individual ;  both  sincere 
monotheists  in  an  atmosphere  of  incredulity ;  both  intent  upon 
their  favorite  subject,  civilization  in  its  surest  form,  education. 
But,  in  looking  closely  at  their  literary  relics,  we  may  more 
easily  find  ideas  of  Pereire  in  the  "  Discours  sur  I'Inegalite  des 
Conditions,"  than  ideas  of  Jean  Jacques  in  the  memoirs  on 


Introduction.  21 

the  restoration  of  the  speech  to  congenital  deaf  mutes,  in- 
serted in  the  collection  of  the  French  Academy.  However, 
no  one  can  doubt  the  reciprocal  influence  two  such  master 
spirits  must  have  exercised  upon  each  other.  The  book  of 
Emile  is  full  of  experiments  upon  physiological  teaching 
which  could  only  have  originated  in  the  school  for  deaf 
mutes ;  so  identical  are  the  theories  of  the  book  with  the  prac- 
tices of  Pereire.  Nevertheless,  the  first  school  where  deaf 
mutes  were  taught  to  speak  naturally,  and  the  first  treatise 
on  education  whose  object  was  to  create,  not  a  subject,  but 
a  man,  stand  side  by  side  as  the  two  indices  on  the  road 
of  modern  education.  In  saying  this  we  do  not  pretend  to 
ignore  other  subsequent  labors,  such  as  the  writings  of  Jean 
Paul  Richter,  and  the  school  of  Pestalozzi,  whose  originality 
is  all  from  the  Emile,  and  whose  defects  are  mostly  inherent. 

When  the  first  philosophical  programme  of  Itard  had  partly 
succeeded  against  what  was  savage  in  his  pupil,  he  conceived 
after  Pereire  and  Rousseau,  the  physiological  terms  of  his 
second  one,  which  adapted  themselves  exactly  to  the  func- 
tional incapacities  of  the  idiocy  of  his  pupil,  so  admirably 
described  by  Pinel ;  so  that,  nolens  volens,  the  great  teacher 
began  to  treat  the  idiot  in  the  savage. 

With  what  success?  Dacier,  the  Perpetual  Secretary  of 
the  French  Academy,  summing  up  the  opinion  of  that  scien- 
tific body  on  this  subject,  wrote  officially  in  1806  as  follows: 
"  This  class  of  the  Academy  acknowledges  that  it  was  im- 
possible for  the  institutor  to  put  in  his  lessons,  exercises, 
and  experiments  more  intelligence,  sagacity,  patience,  courage ; 
and  that  if  he  has  not  obtained  a  greater  success,  it  must 
be  attributed,  not  to  any  lack  of  zeal  or  talent  but  to  the 
imperfection  of  the  organs  of  the  subject  upon  which  he 
worked.  The  Academy,  moreover,  cannot  see  without  aston- 
ishment how  he  could  succeed  as  far  as  he  did ;  and  thinks 
that  to  be  just  towards  M.  Itard,  and  to  appreciate  the  real 
worth  of  his  labors,  the  pupil  ought  to  be  compared  only 
with  himself;  we  should  remember  what  he  was  when  placed 
in  the  hands  of  this  physician,  see  what  he  is  now; 
and  more,  consider  the  distance  separating  his  starting-point 
from  that  which  he  has  reached;  and  by  how  many  new  and 
ingenious  modes  of  teaching  this  lapse  has  been  filled.     The 


22  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

pamphlet  of  M.  Itard  contains  also  the  exposition  of  a  series 
of  extremely  singular  and  interesting  phenomena  of  fine  and 
judicious  observations;  and  presents  a  combination  of  highly 
instructive  processes,  capable  of  furnishing  science  with  new 
data,  the  knowledge  of  which  can  but  be  extremely  useful 
to  all  persons  engaged  in  the  teaching  of  youth."  It  is  curious 
to  see  that  Itard  himself  did  not  measure  as  justly  as  Dacier 
the  compass  of  his  physiological  teaching,  when  he  speaks 
thus  on  the  same  subject:  "Leaving  out  the  end  aimed  at 
in  my  self-imposed  task,  the  education  of  the  Savage  of  the 
Aveyron;  considering  this  undertaking  from  a  more  general 
point  of  view,  you  cannot  fail  to  see  with  some  satisfaction, 
in  the  various  experiments  I  instituted,  in  the  numerous  obser- 
vations I  made,  a  collection  of  facts  capable  of  enlightening 
the  history  of  medical  philosophy,  the  study  of  uncivilized 
man,  and  the  direction  of  certain  kinds  of  private  education."* 

In  the  practice  of  physiological  teaching  Itard  never  went 
farther.  He  had  undertaken  the  education  of  the  Savage 
of  the  Aveyron,  because  he  did  not  believe  him  idiotic ;  whilst 
Pinel  warned  him  not  to  undertake  it,  on  the  ground  of  a 
contrary  diagnosis :  both  thus  giving  their  sanction  to  the 
doctrine  of  letting  idiocy  alone.  When  he  first  suspected 
that  his  savage  might  also  be  an  idiot,  his  belief  in  the  in- 
curability of  idiocy  made  him  exclaim :  "  Unfortunate !  Since 
my  pains  are  lost  and  my  efforts  fruitless,  take  yourself  back 
to  your  forests  and  primitive  tastes ;  or  if  your  new  wants 
make  you  dependent  on  society,  suffer  the  penalty  of  being 
useless,  and  go  to  Bicetre,  there  to  die  in  wretchedness.f  He, 
of  himself,  never  educated  any  other  idiot,  but  directed  "  cer- 
tain kinds  of  private  education,"  which  applied  to  a  large 
range  of  cases,  from  idiotic  to  morally  depraved;  our  common 
pupil  was  from  among  the  former.  Confined  to  these  acci- 
dental and  isolated  instances,  Itard  never  so  much  as  hinted 
at  the  possibility  of  systematizing  his  views  for  the  treatment 
of  idiots  at  large,  nor  at  organizing  schools  for  the  same 
purpose. 

But  he  was  the  first  to  educate  an  idiot  with  a  philosophical 
object  and  by  physiological  means.     If  he  did  not  conceive 


*  Itard;  Rapport,  etc.     1807.     P.  12. 

t  Itard.     De  L'Education  d'un  Homme  Sauvage.     1801.     Pp.  45,  46. 


Introduction.  23 

a  philosophical  method  of  education,  he  expressed  and  realized 
the  first  views  on  this  subject;  generalizing  on  his  savage 
idiot  the  sensorial  experiments  made  by  Pereire  on  the  touch 
of  deaf  mutes ;  and  specializing  on  the  same  forlorn  pupil 
the  theories  enunciated  by  Rousseau  for  the  education  of 
mankind.  In  this  double  process  consists  the  completeness 
of  his  labors ;  alternately  analyzing  and  synthesizing,  he 
followed  his  special  aims  without  deviating  from  his  general 
object.  Others  may  have  continued  his  task,  even  enlarged, 
completed,  and  systematized  it,  but  we  do  not  know  of  any 
one  who  would  not  gladly  exchange  all  subsequent  titles  for 
the  authorship  of  the  two  pamphlets  on  the  "  Savage  of  the 
Aveyron."  Even  at  present,  we  quit  with  regret  his  few 
unrivalled  pages,  to  follow  the  evolution  of  his  idea  through 
other  minds,  after  his  bodily  death. 

The  idea  of  Itard  came  to  its  most  comprehensive  realiza- 
tion under  trying  circumstances.  The  philosophical  school 
to  which  he  belonged  in  1800,  had  gone  to  rest  before  him. 
In  1830-40  three  schools  were  disputing  the  ruling  of  this 
century.  The  one  called  of  Divine  Rights,  because  it 
attributed  a  divine  origin  to  the  oppression  of  the  many  by 
the  few,  according  to  certain  laws  of  heredity  and  priesthood; 
nothing  between  the  parties  but  obedience  and  authority;  edu- 
cation a  limited  privilege.  The  Eclectic  school,  whose  highcL  t 
aim  was  "  classification  according  to  capacity,  and  remunera- 
tion according  to  production;"  perpetuation  of  classes  if  not 
of  castes ;  education,  like  the  rest,  to  the  presumed  capable ; 
in  fact,  a  liberal  school  classifying  from  the  embryo,  un- 
equalizing  from  the  foetus.  The  Christian  school  (St.  Simon- 
ism),  striving  for  a  social  application  of  the  principles  of  the 
gospel ;  for  the  most  rapid  elevation  of  the  lowest  and  poorest 
by  all  means  and  institutions ;  mostly  by  free  education.  The 
idea  of  Itard  being  congenial  only  to  this  last  school,  was 
nursed  in  it ;  in  it  experienced  its  natural  growth  and  trans- 
formation ;  becoming  from  individual,  social ;  from  propor- 
tionate to  the  relief  of  special  cases,  commensurate  with  the 
Vv^ants  of  many  idiots ;  and  from  adapted  to  this  class  of 
sufferers,  competent  to  do  the  training  of  mankind.  It  is 
an  undeniable  fact  that  that  school,  and  nobody  out  of  it, 
has    produced,   among    many   works   of   eminence,   the   only 


24  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

didactic  treatises  on  idiocy,  and  the  last  of  these  closed  in 
the  following  words : 

"  If  it  were  possible  that  in  endeavoring  to  solve  the  simple 
question  of  the  education  of  idiots  we  had  found  terms  pre- 
cise enough,  that  it  were  only  necessary  to  generalize  them 
to  obtain  a  formula  applicable  to  universal  education;  then, 
not  only  would  we  in  our  humble  sphere  have  rendered  some 
little  service,  but  we  would  besides  have  prepared  the  ele- 
ments for  a  method  of  physiological  education  for  mankind. 
Nothing  would  remain  but  to  write  it." 

These  lines  stand,  an  unheeded  appeal  to  write  a  work 
on  physiological  education.  Teachers  have  plucked  here  and 
there  some  fragments  of  the  training  of  idiots,  as  object 
lessons,  imitation  exercises,  parcels  of  sensorial  gymnastics, 
etc.  Herbert  Spencer  has  insisted  upon  a  large  application 
of  the  same  to  ordinary  schools  and  children ;  but  no  ex 
professo  book  has  been  written;  so  that  the  last  page  of  the 
treatise  of  1846  may  appropriately  be  the  first  one  of  that  of 
1866.  This  apparent  dead-lock  in  the  march  of  the  idea  finds 
its  explanation  in  the  fact  that  the  school  which  developed 
the  idea  of  physiological  training  was  vanquished.  When  the 
power  of  the  method  was  demonstrated  by  its  success  in  the 
treatment  of  idiots,  and  when  the  sanction  given  it  by  the 
]'"rench  Institute  seemed  to  point  to  its  early  application  to 
popular  teaching,  it  became  evident  that  circtimstances  were 
unfavorable.  For  it  is  not  enough  for  an  idea  to  be  ripe  in 
the  mind  of  a  thinker,  and  that  it  be  hailed  by  the  advocates 
of  progress ;  the  social  medium  in  which  it  falls  must  be 
prepared  for  it  as  well ;  otherwise  no  production  ensues  from 
their  contact.  But  generally  the  ground  rejects  the  seeds 
which  it  cannot  germinate,  and  they  are  carried,  by  what 
seems  the  fancy  of  the  storms,  to  a  more  genial  soil. 

Germany,  prepared  by  the  labors  of  Comenius,  Spiner, 
Francke,  and  nursed  with  the  ideas  of  Rousseau  by  Basedow 
and  Pestalozzi,  had  spread  and  enforced  popular  education 
from  Switzerland  to  Denmark.  England  was  only  second  to 
Germany  in  the  same  movement*  which  here  received  a  par- 


*  More  details  might  be  given  concerning  the  history  and  development  of  education  in 
Europe,  were  it  not  that  the  whole  matter  has  been  ably  and  succinctly  treated  in  the 
"History  of  Education.  New  York:  i860,"  to  which  we  refer,  by  a  talented  writer  under 
the  ttom  de  plume  of  Philobiblius. 


Introduction.  25 

ticular  impulse  from  the  character  of  the  American  people, 
and  of  the  institutions  of  the  country.  As  early  as  1635  and 
1639,  laws  for  the  formation  of  free  schools  had  been  enacted 
in  the  colonies  of  New  England.  Later,  when  the  fathers 
of  this  Republic  wished  to  perpetuate  the  spirit  of  inde- 
pendence and  the  capacity  of  self-government,  they  voted 
lands  and  money  for  the  foundation  of  schools  for  all  children 
of  whatever  sex  or  color.  So  that  in  every  new  township 
the  opening  of  the  school-house  preceded  that  of  any  other 
public  building,  even  of  the  post-office.  The  immediate  results 
of  this  policy  appear  in  the  universal  elementary  instruction 
of  the  natives;  in  the  eagerness  for  learning  of  the  pupils  of 
both  sexes ;  and  in  the  high  character  of  the  teachers,  most 
of  them  women. 

With  such  competition  from  nearly  all  quarters,  it  would 
be  difficult  to  tell  wherefrom  will  rise  the  next  improvement 
in  education.  If  we  believe  in  the  signs  nearest  to  us,  we 
should  think  that,  supposing  the  American  teachers  only  equal 
in  point  of  learning  to  their  European  brethren,  they  have 
shown  themselves  so  superior  in  point  of  understanding  of 
philosophical  questions,  and  of  devotion  to  the  down-trodden 
of  our  race  (when  hundreds  of  them  have  spontaneously  left 
home  and  comfort,  and  foregone  the  protection  of  civilization 
to  teach  freedom  to  freedmen),  that  it  is  impossible  to  deny 
them  the  virtues  necessary  to  carry  into  our  schools  the 
means  of  a  signal  improvement  in  our  race;  unless  we  are 
greatly  mistaken  our  teachers  are  ready  to  spread  civilization, 
not  by  the  old  process  of  overculture  of  a  few,  but  by  the 
philosophical  elevation  of  the  masses.  We  do  not  need  to 
tell  them,  headed  by  Barnard,  Holmes,  May,  Mrs.  Stowe,  etc., 
and  by  the  spirit  of  Horace  Mann,  in  what  the  coming  prog- 
ress will  consist.  Descartes  pointed  it  out  in  these  memorable 
words :  "  If  it  be  possible  to  perfect  mankind,  the  means  of 
doing  it  will  be  found  in  the  medical  sciences."  Pariset*  said, 
more  explicitly :  "  The  physiological  method  of  education  is  an 
example  worthy  of  imitation,  of  the  alliance  of  hygiene, 
medical  science,  and  moral  philosophy."  And  the  curriculum 
proposed  by  Spencer  comes  nearer  to  this  object  than  any 
previous  one.    A  deferential  reference  to  his  work  on  educa- 

*  Rapport  rie  MM.  Serres,  Flourens,  et  Pariset,  h  1' Academic  des  Sciences.     Paris:  1843  . 


26  Idiocy^  and  Its  Treatment. 

tion  will  allow  us  to  dispense  with  discussing  the  matter  of 
the  teaching  proper,  and  leave  more  room  for  the  exposition 
of  the  general  principles  of  the  method. 

According  to  this  method  education  is  the  ensemble  of  the 
means  of  developing  harmoniously  and  effectively  the  moral, 
intellectual,  and  physical  capacities,  as  functions,  in  man  and 
mankind. 

To  be  physiological,  education  must  at  first  follow  the  great 
natural  law  of  action  and  repose,  which  is  life  itself.  To 
adapt  this  law  to  the  whole  training,  each  function  in  its 
turn  is  called  to  activit)^  and  to  rest;  the  activity  of  one 
favoring  the  repose  of  the  other;  the  improvement  of  one 
reacting  upon  the  improvement  of  all  others;  contrast  being 
not  only  an  instrument  of  relaxation,  but  of  comprehension 
also. 

But  before  entering  farther  into  the  generalities  of  the 
training,  the  individuality  of  the  children  is  to  be  secured: 
for  respect  of  individuality  is  the  first  test  of  the  fitness  of 
a  teacher.  At  first  sight  all  children  look  much  alike ;  at  the 
second  their  countless  differences  appear  like  insurmountable 
obstacles;  but  better  viewed,  these  differences  resolve  them- 
selves into  groups  easily  understood,  and  not  unmanageable. 
We  find  congenital  or  acquired  anomalies  of  function  which 
need  to  be  suppressed,  or  to  be  given  a  better  employment; 
deficiencies  to  be  supplied;  feebleness  to  be  strengthened; 
peculiarities  to  be  watched ;  eccentricities  to  be  guarded  against ; 
propensities  needing  a  genial  object;  mental  aptness,  or 
organic  fitness  requiring  specific  openings.  This  much,  at 
least,  and  more  if  possible,  will  secure  the  sanctity  of  true 
originality  against  the  violent  sameness  of  that  most  con- 
siderable part  of  education,  the  general  training. 

The  general  training  embraces  the  muscular,  imitative, 
nervous,  and  reflective  functions,  susceptible  of  being  called 
into  play  at  any  moment.  All  that  pertains  to  movement, 
as  locomotion  and  special  motions;  prehension,  manipulation, 
and  palpation,  by  dint  of  strength,  or  exquisite  delicacy;  imi- 
tation and  communication  from  mind  to  mind,  through  lan- 
guages, signs,  and  symbols ;  all  that  is  to  be  treated  thoroughly. 
Then,  from  imitation  is  derived  drawing;  from  drawing, 
writing;  from  writing,  reading;  which  implies  the  most  ex- 


Introduction.  27 

tended  use  of  the  voice  in  speaking,  music,  etc.  The  senses 
are  trained,  not  only  each  one  to  be  perfect  in  itself;  but, 
as  to  a  certain  extent  other  organs  may  be  made  receivers 
of  food  in  lieu  of  the  stomach  and  one  emunctory  may  take 
the  place  of  another,  likewise  the  senses  must  be  educated, 
so  that  if  the  use  of  any  one  be  lost,  another  may  feel  and 
perceive  for  it.  The  same  provision  is  to  be  made  for  the 
use  of  both  sides  of  the  body;  the  left  being  made  competent 
to  do  anything  for  the  right.  But,  instead  of  this,  the  present 
use  of  our  senses  is  nearly  empirical.  No  mechanic  sees 
well  enough  at  first  sight  all  the  parts  of  an  engine;  no 
draughtsman  draws  his  pencil  exactly  where  he  means  to; 
no  painter  can  create  the  shades  he  has  before  him;  no 
physician  whose  tact  is  perfect  enough  for  the  requirements 
of  his  profession ;  the  imperfection  of  our  sensorial  and  motive 
education  always  betrays,  instead  of  executing  the  dictates 
of  our  will.  Let  our  natural  senses  be  developed  as  far  as 
possible,  and  we  are  not  near  the  limits  of  their  capacity. 
Then  the  instruments  of  artificial  senses  are  to  be  brought 
in  requisition;  the  handling  of  the  compass,  the  prism,  the 
most  philosophical  of  them,  the  microscope  and  others  must 
be  made  familiar  to  all  children,  who  shall  learn  how  to  see 
nature  through  itself,  instead  of  through  twenty-six  letters 
of  the  alphabet;  and  shall  cease  to  learn  by  rote,  by  trust, 
by  faith,  instead  of  by  knowing. 

True  knowledge  comes  only  in  this  wise.  When  a  sense 
meets  with  a  phenomenon,  the  mind  awakened  to  the  reality 
of  the  latter  by  its  elements,  which  mark  its  analogy  to  and 
difference  from  other  phenomena,  the  mind  receives  from  said 
analogy  and  difference  the  impression  which  constitutes  the 
image  to  be  stored,  evoked,  compared,  combined,  etc.  The 
character  of  the  analogies  and  differences  presented  to  the 
mind  by  circumstances,  and  mostly  b}^  education,  forms  our 
stock  of  ideas ;  thus  the  same  piece  of  muscle  looked  at  by 
the  butcher-boy  or  by  the  microscopist  awakens  images  en- 
tirely different,  and  ideas  whose  associations  shall  differ  more 
and  more  at  each  new  combination.  The  comparison  of  simple 
ideas  produces  compound  ones :  ideal  creations  of  the  mind, 
whose  existence  is  purely  relative  to  that  mind  or  to  its 
congeners.     The  assemblage  in  the  same  field  of  comparison 


28  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

of  a  great  number  of  ideas,  primary  or  compound,  gives  rise 
to  general  ideas,  as  those  of  order,  classification,  configuration, 
etc.  Ideas  in  their  generality  are  abstract  creations  of  the 
mind  only  commensurate  with  Immensity,  As  examples  of 
generalizations  may  be  mentioned,  the  progress  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  surface  of  the  earth,  as  leading  to  the  generaliza- 
tion of  its  curves  into  the  idea  of  its  Globular  shape:  idea 
which  sent  Columbus  in  search  of  the  antipodes;  the  idea 
of  the  quasi-infinite  divisibility  of  matter  which  produced  the 
Atomic  theory ;  the  presence  of  bodies  everywhere,  which  gives 
plausibility  to  the  hypothesis  of  Space;  the  suffering  of  the 
toiling  masses  which  elevated  the  mind  to  the  conception  of 
Equality;  the  general  harmony  of  the  universe  which  dis- 
pelled the  successive  mythologies  founded  upon  temporary 
antagonism  of  elements,  and  made  room  for  the  idea  of  the 
Unity  of  our  nature.  Thus  correct  sensations  being  the  ground 
of  correct  images,  images  being  stored  as  simple  ideas,  the  con- 
tact of  which  produces  comparisons  whose  abundance  leads 
to  generalizations ;  till  the  mind  embraces  knowingly  and 
willingly  from  the  simplest  image  to  the  most  synthetic  idea. 

In  previous  periods  the  total  absence  of  general  education 
for  the  masses,  and  of  systematic  training  for  the  perceptive, 
inductive,  and  deductive  faculties  in  each  individual,  made 
progress  a  spasmodic  affair,  quite  properly  attributed  to  blind 
fate ;  whereas,  in  the  future,  progress!  resulting  from  the  equal 
education  of  all  women  and  men,  and  from  the  direct  training 
of  all  their  functions,  shall  appear  to  every  mind  as  it  really 
is,  issuing  from  an  intelligent  and  understood  Providence, 
which  leads  us  through  a  continuous  series  of  improvements 
towards  our  religious  destiny. 

At  this  point  physiological  education  merges  into  the  moral 
training.  This  we  cannot  even  sketch  without  going  beyond 
the  object  of  this  introduction,  which  was  two-fold. 

1st.  To  trace  the  origin  of  the  methodical  treatment  of 
idiots  and  their  congeners. 

2d.  To  present  the  philosophical  history  of  the  idea  of 
training  the  functions,  and  all  the  faculties  as  functions  (in- 
stead of  only  instructing  children)  ;  from  its  germination  to 
its  maturation  in  the  school  for  idiots,  and  to  its  actual 
fitness  for  the  training  of  all  children. 


PART  I 

IDIOCY 

Synonyms. — Named  by  Savage,  Amentia;  by  Segar,  Imbecil- 
litas  ingenii;  by  Vogel,  Fatuitas  ingenii;  by  Linnaeus,  Morosis; 
by  Cullen  and  Fodere,  Demence  innee;  by  Willis,  Stupiditas;  by 
Pinel,  Idiotism;  by  some  English  Writers,  Idiotcy;  by  Esquirol 
and  the  majority  of  Encyclopcedias  and  Dictionaries,  Idiocy. 

We  shall  use  this  latter  term  to  express  the  physiological 
infirmity;  and  would  like  to  see  the  name  given  to  it  by 
Pinel,  Idiotism,  preserved  to  express  the  specific  condition 
of  mind  pertaining  to  idiocy. 

Its  definitions  have  been  so  numerous,  they  are  so  different 
one  from  the  other,  and  they  have  so  little  bearing  on  the 
treatment,  that  their  omission  cannot  be  much  felt  in  a  prac- 
tical treatise.  Our  ow^n,  if  objectionable,  wrill  be  found  at 
least  to  correspond  to  a  plan  of  treatment,  both  supporting 
each  other;  and  may  suffice  until  a  better  definition  and  a 
better  treatment  can  be  devised. 

Idiocy  is  a  specific  infirmity  of  the  crania-spinal  axis,  pro- 
duced by  deficiency  of  nutrition  in  utero  and  in  neo-nati.  It 
incapacitates  mostly  the  functions  which  give  rise  to  the 
reflex,  instinctive,  and  conscious  phenomena  of  life;  conse- 
quently, the  idiot  moves,  feels,  understands,  wills,  but  im- 
perfectly; does  nothing,  thinks  of  nothing,  cares  for  nothing 
(extreme  cases)  ;  he  is  a  minor  legally  irresponsible ;  isolated, 
without  associations;  a  soul  shut  up  in  imperfect  organs,  an 
innocent. 

The  modus  operandi  of  deficiency  of  nutrition  in  the  first 
period  of  life  has  not  yet  been  fully  investigated;  it  may 
bear  upon  all  the  tissues,  but  we  are  concerned  here  mostly 
with  its  action  on  the  nervous  system. 

At  the  time  when  deficiency  of  nutrition  takes  place  it 
stops  the  foetal  progress,  and  gives  permanency  to  the  transi- 
tory type  through  which  the  foetus  was  passing;  these  tran- 
sient types  being  to  some  extent  analogous  to  the  persistent 
forms  of  the  lower  animals.  For  instance  atresia  palpebrarum 
testifies  to  the  presence  of  the  cause  of  arrest  of  development 


30  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

as  far  back  as  the  third  month  of  gestation ;  arrest  of  develop- 
ment of  the  inter-auricular  septum  leaves  the  human  heart 
homologous  with  the  heart  of  fishes ;  similar  early  arrest  of 
nutrition  of  the  encephalon  leaves  its  circumvolutions  un- 
finished at  the  low  types  of  the  orang-outang,  the  calf,  or  even 
lower.  After  the  time  at  which  deficiency  of  nutrition  has 
stopped  the  ascending  evolutions  of  the  embryo  at  one  of  its 
low  types,  it  sometimes  continues  its  deleterious  action  of 
altering,  or  entirely  destroying  the  foetus  also.  For  instance, 
it  may  destroy  one  of  two  foetuses  for  the  nutrition  of  the 
other,  leaving  next  to  the  spared  one  an  acephalus,  or  only 
a  few  fragments  of  an  organized  being;  or  it  may  partially 
destroy  an  encephalon  at  any  stage  of  development,  even  after 
birth,  by  the  intervening  of  hydrocephalus ;  or  it  may  give  rise 
to  some  embryonic  malady,  destructive  of  a  set  of  organs  or 
of  functions.  Though  deficiency  of  nutrition  may  aflfect  the 
whole  being,  it  strikes  by  preference  one  set  of  organs,  such 
as  those  of  speech,  of  hearing,  of  local  contractility.  De- 
ficiency of  nutrition  happens  in  two  ways :  slowly,  when 
induced  by  depressing  influences ;  or  at  once,  when  brought 
on  by  a  shock.  Hence  the  first  leaves  the  child  a  prey 
to  maladies  of  embryonic  origin,  or  at  best  at  a  low  point 
of  vitality ;  the  other  leaves  him  well  provided  for  by  anterior 
nutrition,  but  torpid,  or  a  prey  to  automatism,  epilepsy,  etc. 

It  is  true  that  we  ignore  most  of  the  influences  which  pro- 
duce deficiency  of  nutrition  in  utero,  but  the  fact  itself  cannot 
be  denied.  Impressions  will  sometimes  reach  the  foetus  in 
its  recess,  cut  off  its  legs  or  arms,  or  inflict  large  flesh-wounds 
before  birth;  inexplicable  as  well  as  indisputable  facts,  from 
which  we  surmise  that  idiocy  holds  unknown  though  certain 
relations  to  maternal  impressions  as  modificators  of  placental 
nutrition.  Farther,  ignorance  stops  us.  On  the  threshold  of 
the  investigation,  instead  of  knowing  all  the  causes  of  de- 
ficiency of  nutrition,  we  are  delayed  by  the  necessity  of  study- 
ing the  circumstances  in  which  it  appears,  and  so  often 
produces  idiocy. 

The  circumstances  which  favor  the  production  of  idiocy 
are  endemic,  hereditary,  parental,  or  accidental.  Idiocy  is 
endemic  only  as  connected  with  some  forms  of  cretinism. 
It  is  considered  hereditary  where  there  have  been  cases  of 


Idiocy.  31 

idiocy  or  of  insanity  in  the  preceding  or  collateral  generations. 
It  is  called  parental  when  referred  to  certain  conditions  of 
the  father  or  mother.  The  direct  influence  of  the  former 
ceases  after  conception;  the  intimacy  of  the  latter  with  her 
fruit  is  incessant  during  the  eventful  periods  of  gestation  and 
lactation ;  hence  the  share  of  the  mother  in  the  circumstances 
favoring  the  production  of  idiocy  is  the  larger.  She  may  have 
been  under-fed  in  poverty  herself,  or  through  previous  gen- 
erations ;  or  so  miserably  enervated  by  music,  perfumes, 
savors,  pictures,  books,  theatres,  associations,  that  a  precocious 
loveliness  has  outgrown  her  motherly  capabilities,  as  forcing 
converts  the  pistils  and  stamens  of  flowers  into  beautiful 
fruitless  petals. 

She,  being  pregnant,  has  used  for  exclusive  food  un- 
nutritious  substances,  such  as  pickles,  dainties,  lemons,  tea, 
brandies,  etc. ;  or  vomited  all  real  food  soon  after  ingestion. 

She  has  conceived  at  a  time  when  spermatozoa  have  en- 
countered noxious  fluids  of  venereal  or  menstrual  origin,  or 
have  been  altered  in  their  vitality  previous  to  their  emission 
by  drunkenness,  etc.  She  is  often  passive  under  the  causes 
of  impressions,  depressions,  shocks,  privations,  exertions, 
abuses,  excesses,  altering  the  nutrition  of  the  unborn  or  new- 
born child. 

But  all  these  circumstances  do  not  seem  to  act  with  the 
same  energy  or  frequency  in  the  production  of  idiocy,  which 
is  attributed  most  of  the  time,  by  women  worthy  of  being 
trusted,  to  sudden  or  protracted  impressions  of  an  accidental 
or  moral  nature.  The  same  testimony  appears  to  extend  the 
power  of  these  circumstances  through  the  period  of  lactation, 
in  which  mothers,  morally  affected,  have  seen  symptoms  pre- 
cursor of  idiocy,  such  as  convulsions,  follow  immediately  the 
ingestion  of  milk,  and  idiocy,  paralysis,  epilepsy,  or  death 
supervene. 

Accidental  idiocy,  after  birth,  is  caused  by  unnutritious  diet, 
want  of  insolation  and  of  other  hygienic  requisites ;  by  hydro- 
cephalus,  measles,   whooping-cough,   intermittent  fever,    etc. 

In  the  above  circumstances,  as  far  as  we  have  learned, 
must  we  look  for  the  origin  of  idiocy  and  its  annexes.  But 
everything  pertaining  to  conception,  gestation,  parturition, 
lactation,   remains   enshrouded   behind   the   veil   of   Isis.      If 


32  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

women  would  only  speak,  we  should  be  able  to  call  upon 
them  in  the  name  of  science,  a  social  protection  they  do  not 
seem  to  need,  nor  care  for  in  their  present  mutism;  and  we 
should  soon  be  enabled  to  generalize  from  their  individual 
experience  frankly  told,  the  laws  of  anomalous  creation  in 
our  race.  Since  idiocy  is  ascribed  to  so  many  circumstances, 
taking  place  at  such  different  periods  of  the  formation  of  the 
child,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  it  should  assume  an 
identical  appearance;  in  fact,  on  entering  a  school,  the  idea 
of  similarity  is  soon  dispelled  by  the  heterogeneous  features 
of  the  inmates ;  therefore  the  same  drawing  cannot  represent 
them  but  as  a  type,  after  a  practical  study  of  the  varieties. 
These  varieties  are  simple  and  complicated  idiocy. 

To  clear  the  field  we  begin  with  the  last  named. 

Endemic  idiocy  is  interwoven  with  alpine  or  lowland  cre- 
tinism and  bronchocele,  producing  at  birth  the  cretin-idiot, 
in  youth  the  cretin-imbecile,  and  after  puberty  the  cretin 
(simplex),  able  to  procreate  his  like.  Thus  cretinism,  besides 
its  apparent  geological  connexion  or  origin,  is  hereditary, 
like  scrofula ;  a  taint  in  the  blood,  preparing  children  for  idiocy 
or  imbecility,  according  to  the  age  of  its  invasion.  This 
alpine  cretinism  is  due  to  locality  and  to  intermarriage,  and 
it  is  never  isolated ;  it  affects  the  skin  with  a  bistre  or  maroon 
color.  Its  action  does  not  cease  after  having  produced  idiocy, 
for  if  its  victim  be  put  in  a  locality  where  cretinism  will 
aggravate,  idiocy  will  do  the  same;  and  if  placed  in  cir- 
cumstances of  climate,  of  hygiene,  of  exercise,  where  cretin- 
ism may  improve,  idiocy  will  also  improve,  and  shall  become 
more  amenable  to  the  physiological  treatment,  as  the  labors 
and  devotion  of  Guggenbiihl  have  abundantly  proved.  The 
lowland  cretinism  of  Belgium,  of  Virginia,  etc.,  with  its  dis- 
crete goitre,  its  grey  and  dirty  straw-colored  skin,  bears  the 
same  relation  to  idiocy  and  imbecility  as  the  more  extensive 
alpine  variety. 

So  does  the  furfuraceous  cretinism  with  its  milk-white, 
rosy,  and  peeling  skin ;  with  its  shortcomings  of  all  the  integu- 
ments, which  give  an  unfinished  aspect  to  the  truncated 
fingers  and  nose ;  with  its  cracked  lips  and  tongue ;  with  its 
red,  ectropic  conjunctiva,  coming  out  to  supply  the  curtailed 
skin  at  the  margin  of  the  lids. 


Idiocy.  33 

Let  us  here  remark  that  bronchocele  may  exist  with  or 
without  cretinism,  or  cretinism  with  or  without  bronchocele; 
but  that  cretinism  cannot  be  found  without  being  alHed  to 
one  of  the  three  alterations  of  the  integuments  above 
described. 

These  alterations  are  not  observable  in  the  following  forms 
of  complicated  idiocy: 

Infantile  convulsions  may  produce  idiocy;  epileptic  seizures 
strike  with  idiocy  in  the  first  age,  with  imbecility  in  the 
second,  later  with  dementia.  Idiocy  receives  a  deleterious 
influence  from  epilepsy ;  attacks  of  which  sometimes  obliterate 
the  faculties  gradually  and  steadily;  at  other  times  they 
carry  away  at  one  sweep  all  mental  acquirements  for  a  time, 
or  permanently. 

Chorea  acts  in  like  manner,  less  suddenly  but  with  more 
steadiness,  by  the  incessant  shaking  of  the  whole  frame, 
through  the  nervous  "  dance."  That  is  the  way  in  which  it 
gives  unsteadiness  to  every  movement,  to  every  impression, 
to  every  expression,  keeping  the  subject  in  a  state  of  tremu- 
lousness,  unfit  to  be  the  starting-point  of  physical  and  intel- 
lectual operations,  and  of  forming  or  transmitting  correctly 
the  orders  of  the  will.  Hence  the  difficulty  of  improving 
idiocy  before  curing  chorea;  and  if  we  do  not  succeed  in 
this,  shattered  nerves,  a  tendency  to  tetanic  horrors,  epilepsy 
and  paralysis  may  be  expected. 

Extensive  paralysis  or  contractures,  particularly  when 
affecting  the  upper  limbs,  act  by  depriving  the  child  of 
important  means  of  communication  and  of  knowledge,  pro- 
ducing the  symptoms  of  superficial  and  aggravating  those  of 
profound  idiocy,  where  this  latter  co-exists  with  these  acces- 
sory infirmities. 

Deafness  and  blindness  from  birth  have  the  same  effects 
as  paralysis  on  ungifted  children,  by  depriving  them  of  the 
cognizance  of  a  whole  series  of  phenomena.  But  it  is  a 
fact  curious  enough  to  be  noted,  that  partial  obliteration  of 
one  of  these  channels  of  knowledge  will  produce  the  symp- 
toms of  superficial  idiocy  surer  than  its  complete  destruction. 
One  must  not  forget  that  those  two  infirrrrities,  cecity  and 
deafness  from  birth,  leave  in  the  best  educated  an  idiosyncrasy 

3 


34  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

dreaded  in  the  workshops  where  the  deaf  or  bhnd  might 
otherwise  compete  with  other  mechanics. 

We  note  as  important  that  idiocy  is  more  frequently  met 
with  epilepsy  and  chorea,  less  with  paralysis  and  contractures, 
least  of  all  with  deafness  and  blindness ;  and  that  its  decreas- 
ing severity  is  quite  in  the  same  ratio. 

We  come  now  to  unmixed  or  simple  idiocy. 

Idiocy  without  complication  presents  itself  under  various 
aspects ;  and  we  have  shown  that  it  could  not  be  otherwise, 
since  some  of  the  circumstances  already  known  as  favoring 
its  production  are  themselves  so  varied.  This  diversity  of 
character  will  be  fully  exposed  in  the  following  division  of 
idiocy,  in  the  analysis  of  its  symptoms,  and  in  subsequent 
observations. 

Idiocy  is  called  profound  when  the  ganglia  are  altered,  and 
superficial  when  the  peripheral  termini  of  contractility  and 
sensation  only  seem  to  be  affected.  It  is  called  organic  when 
the  organs  are  sensibly  altered,  and  functional  when  our  im- 
perfect instruments  and  observations  do  not  permit  us  to 
trace  the  organic  lesion  as  we  do  the  functional  disorder. 
It  is  called  sthenic  when  it  gives  the  child  nervous  impulses 
without  object;  and  asthenic  when  it  leaves  him  without 
them,  when  they  are  wanted  for  some  object.  Though  we 
are  ready  to  acknowledge  these  last  apparently  contradictory 
symptoms  as  simple  manifestations  of  the  same  low  type  of 
vitality,  produced  by  difference  of  circumstances,  nevertheless, 
these  symptoms  give  too  precious  an  indication  of  the  different 
treatment  required  for  each,  to  be  omitted;  since  the  division 
founded  upon  them  has  a  practical,  if  not  a  truly  scientific 
import.  Other  divisions  might  be  devised,  but  as  they  bear 
on  the  psychological  symptoms  exclusively,  and  repose  more 
on  degrees  than  on  differences,  they  are  more  apt  to  disclose 
the  ingenuity  of  their  framers  than  to  prove  new  and 
beneficial. 

In  regard  to  the  pathology  of  our  subject,  we  will  divide 
it  into  organic  and  physiological. 

Organic  pathology  related  to  shape,  size,  proportions  and 
other  characteristics  observable  on  the  living;  and  to  altera- 
tions of  internal  structures  which  diagnosis  may  suspect,  but 
anatomy  alone  can  disclose. 


Idiocy.  35 

The  pathological  symptoms  of  idiocy  have,  unfortunately, 
been  ascribed  only  by  men  who  never  knew  or  never  taught 
anything  about  the  subjects  of  their  post-mortems;  so  that 
we  have  descriptions,  masterly  or  not,  of  organic  anomalies, 
without  a  word  of  their  corresponding  psycho-physiological 
symptoms.  Such  a  thing  could  not  be  done  for  any  other 
pathological  condition  than  idiocy,  without  meeting  with  the 
most  merited  censure.  If  we,  personally,  deserve  the  con- 
trary disapprobation  for  having  studied  the  physiology  of 
idiocy  more  than  its  pathology,  the  exceptional  difficulties 
we  encountered,  and  the  novelty  of  the  undertaking  are  our 
excuses. 

Though  idiocy  does  not  stamp  children  with  any  particular 
shape  of  the  body,  still,  be  it  the  effect  of  unequal  nutrition, 
of  want  of  normal  activity  of  will  in  the  gathering  up  of 
the  limbs  to  the  body  to  form  the  various  attitudes,  the  great 
majority  of  idiots  seem  to  be  not  so  much  ill-shaped  as  ill- 
proportioned;  the  exceptions  of  splendid  build  covered  with 
rich  integuments,  belong  particularly  to  cases  in  which  may 
be  detected  a  tendency  to  insanity,  or  some  complication, 
such  as  paralysis  of  the  organs  of  speech. 

When  the  central  nervous  apparatus  is  affected  in  idiocy, 
the  following  alterations  may  be  noticed:  The  substance  of 
the  brain  is  softer  generally,  or  partially  harder,  and  as  it 
were  shrivelled.  The  color  is  paler,  with  less  distinction 
between  the  white  and  grey  matters.  The  circumvolutions 
are  neither  so  numerous  nor  so  well  defined  on  the  surface, 
nor  so  deeply  penetrating.  The  hemispheres  do  not  expand 
above  the  sensory  ganglia  and  cerebellum  with  their  normal 
amplitude.  The  lateral  and  posterior  lobes  being  particularly 
short  of  their  normal  expansions;  the  cerebellum  which  is 
not  fully  covered  by  the  hemispheres  being  larger  in  pro- 
portion. 

If  the  cranium  were  always  and  everywhere  of  the  same 
thickness,  and  if  the  brain  were  always  filling  the  whole  of 
its  cavity,  the  external  configuration  of  the  skull  might  be 
taken  as  the  counterpart  of  the  form  of  the  brain,  and  used 
as  the  relative  measure  of  its  bulk.  But  the  reverse  is  true. 
Crania  are  very  thick  or  very  thin,  partly  thick  and  partly 
thin,  particularly  so  at  the  frontal  sinus,  the  tables  of  which 


36  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

are  often  besides  vastly  apart.  Moreover,  the  brain  is  very 
far  from  always  adapting  itself  with  the  same  exactness  in 
reality  as  in  theory  to  the  form  of  the  cranium.  In  fact 
there  are  cases  in  which  the  brain  presses  so  strongly  against 
the  cranium,  that  either  the  internal  table  is  eroded  by  the 
convolutions  and  bears  a  deep  imprint  of  them,  or  other 
cases  in  which  the  compression  exercised  by  the  unyielding 
cranium  is  such  as  to  deface  all  convolutions  and  enfractu- 
osities  of  the  hypertrophied  mass ;  cases  in  which  the  dis- 
tension of  the  cranium  is  due  to  the  presence  of  a  tumor,  of 
hydrocephalus,  or  of  hypertrophy;  anomalies  as  difficult  to 
discriminate  on  the  living  subject  as  the  thickened  tables 
of  the  skull. 

If  we  pass  from  the  sizes  of  large  skulls,  which  are 
attributed  to  hydrocephalic  origin,  to  those  which  present 
microcephalic  proportions  we  shall  see  that  we  cannot  judge 
by  them  more  accurately  of  the  condition  of  the  brain.  Some- 
times a  very  small  skull  encloses  quite  a  bulky  and  healthy 
encephalon;  sometimes  the  skull  will  not  be  so  very  small, 
only  irregular,  and  disclose  internal  anomalies,  such  as  the 
following  found  by  Lebert:*  "Cerebrum  very  small,  right 
hemisphere  larger  and  '  homhe'  left  smaller  and  flattened ;  cir- 
cumvolutions narrow,  more  so  posteriorly,  where  they  are  of 
the  size  of  ground  worms ;  they  are  twisted,  and  in  their 
course  are  puffed  up  and  constricted  alternately."  In  other 
cases,  the  hemispheres  may  be  found  almost  without  con- 
volutions, and  the  medullary  substance  covered  only  with  a 
thin  layer  of  cineritious  matter.  Or,  in  the  absence  of  the 
corpus  callosum,  the  hemispheres  were  found  to  communicate 
only  through  the  medium  of  the  anterior  and  posterior  com- 
missures. Or  the  pineal  and  pituitary  bodies  were  much 
atrophied.  These  anomalies  and  many  more  are  recorded 
from  the  autopsies  of  microcephalic  idiots,  but  as  usual  with- 
out a  word  as  to  their  corresponding  psycho-physiological 
disabilities. 

To  sum  up  what  we  have  said  about  raze  by  two  extreme 
cases,  we  are  acquainted  with  a  lady  fifty  years  of  age, 
whose  head  measures  twenty-seven  incites  in  circumference, 
and  above  twenty-two  from  one  external  auditory  foramen 

*Traite  d'Anatomie  Pathologique.     Vol.  I.,  p.  84.     PI.  IX,  fig.  1  and  2. 


Idiocy.  37 

to  the  other  across  the  vertex,  who  couid,  in  younger  days, 
perform  the  duties  of  a  Sunday-school  teacher,  and  even  now 
behaves  Hke  a  lady  in  every  respect.  And  we  have  seen 
enough  of  the  Aztec  children,  so  well  observed  by  Dr.  John 
C.  Dalton,  whose  heads  are  under  thirteen  inches  in  circum- 
ference, to  be  sure  that,  previous  to  their  training  as  show- 
things,  they  could  have  been  educated  like  human  beings,  and 
improved  as  much  as  extreme  microcephalic  children  have 
been  by  Drs.  S.  Howe  and  H.  B.  Wilbur  (see  Observations 
in  Appendix).  To  close  what  we  have  to  say  about  the  size 
of  the  heads  of  idiots;  it  is  most  of  the  time  quite  normal, 
though  it  looks  too  big  in  infancy,  because  it  stands  on  a 
sickly  frame,  and  too  small  later,  because  the  body  has  grown 
and  the  head  has  not,  owing  to  the  deficiency  of  special 
nutrition  and  to  deprivation  of  intellectual  gymnastics.  Lastly, 
the  two  tables  of  crania,  large  or  small,  not  being  exactly 
parallel,  and  being  sometimes  very  far  apart,  the  internal 
capacity  of  the  skull  cannot  be  founded  upon  its  external 
measurements.  Hence,  observers  have  tried  to  obviate  this 
difficulty,  at  least  on  the  dead,  by  measuring  the  internal 
capacity  with  instruments,  liquids,  sand,  or  seeds ;  but  these 
new  means  could  no  more  be  invoked  as  tests  of  idiocy 
than  the  measure  of  the  external  size;  since  that  cavity  was 
not  on  the  living  necessarily  filled  up  with  medullary  and 
cortical  substance ;  and  since  savages  are  endowed  with  the 
full  capacity  allotted  to  their  race,  who  have  heads  whose  size 
is  inferior  to  that  of  the  idiots  of  ours. 

If  we  pass  from  the  consideration  of  the  external  size  and 
internal  capacity  to  that  of  shape,  we  see,  equally,  all  sorts 
of  form.s  among  the  heads  of  idiots.  The  shape  of  the  head 
may  be  altered  from  its  primitive  type  in  each  race  by  dis- 
ease or  by  art.  Idiocy  presents  mostly  the  following  deformi- 
ties: Heads  flattened  anteriorly  or  posteriorly,  or  circularly 
comxpressed  to  a  cone,  which  tends  upward  or  backward ; 
flattened  at  the  sides,  or  at  the  top ;  very  low  or  very  high, 
as  if  crowned  by  a  stony  table,  or  bilobed  by  a  depression 
running  along  the  coronal  suture ;  or  with  both  parietal 
eminences  greatly  exaggerated ;  or  the  vertex  expanded  like 
a  balloon,  whose  neck  would  be  represented  by  the  com- 
pressed forehead   and   lower    lateral    bones,   reposing    on    a 


38  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

diminutive  face.  These  deformities  are  the  principal,  but 
many  idiots  do  not  present  any  of  them,  whilst  they  are 
found  among  people  who  practice  them,  not  to  incapacitate 
their  children,  but  to  make  their  heads  correspond  to  some 
desired  type  by  a  sort  of  plastic  orthophreny.  We  notice, 
besides,  two  kinds  of  disproportion  in  the  component  parts 
of  the  cranium.  One  from  side  to  side,  which,  very  rarely 
extreme,  is  seen  accidentally  in  idiots  and  insanes ;  but  which, 
in  its  milder  forms,  may  be  detected  on,  we  may  say,  any 
cranium ;  even  the  circumvolutions  presenting  commonly, 
from  side  to  side,  disproportions  and  differences  :  consequently 
the  disproportion  from  side  to  side  of  the  head  is  not  a  test 
of  idiocy. 

The  other  disproportion  affects  the  relative  development 
of  the  three  segments  forming  the  vault  of  the  cranium ;  we 
will  consider  them  in  their  relative  expansion  and  in  their 
mode  of  uniting  to  form  a  cavity.  The  posterior  segment 
contains  the  cerebellum,  and  so  much  of  the  hemispheres 
as  expands  over  it  in  proportion  to  natural  or  acquired  devel- 
opment ;  the  second  contains  the  primitive  cerebrum,  the 
tubercula  quadrigemina,  and  other  ganglia ;  the  third  contains 
the  largest  accretions  made  to  the  human  brain,  according 
to  race  and  education,  in  such  a  bulk  as  to  atrophy  the  olfac- 
tory lobes,  to  depress  the  orbital  cavities,  and  to  raise  the 
vault  of  the  frontal  bone  very  sensibly  since  the  short  period 
of  two  thousand  years,  as  appears  by  all  the  monuments  of 
our  race.  The  harmonious  development  of  these  three  parts, 
according  to  the  standard  for  each  race,  represents  the  har- 
mony of  manly  functions ;  and  when  it  exists  in  large 
encephalic  masses,  insures  great  mental  power. 

Considering  the  modes  of  formation  of  the  sutures  by  which 
the  bones  are  united ;  the  sutures  may  be  formed  too  hastily, 
when  there  is  atrophy  of  the  brain,  and  are  smooth  and  can- 
not be  felt ;  or  under  the  influence  of  a  serous  inflammation, 
and  then  their  serrated  structure  is  felt  rough  and  elevated 
by  the  finger  through  the  thin  integuments.  But  when  cir- 
cumstances have  prevented  or  retarded  the  formation  of  the 
sutures,  palpation  detects  the  opened  or  imperfectly  closed 
fontanelles,  the  presence  of  wormian  bones  in  anormal  num- 


Idiocy.  39 

bers,   or  the  loose    condition    of    the    coronal,   sagittal,   and 
lamdoid  sutures. 

In  the  relative  development  of  the  segments,  and  in  their 
modes  of  suture  to  form  the  cranium,  resides  the  harmony 
or  disharmony  which  strikes  more  than  size  or  shape  in 
human  heads.  Reserving  the  exceptions,  any  deviation  from 
the  Caucasian  type  among  our  children,  in  respect  to  harmony 
of  proportions,  must  be  looked  upon,  a  priori,  as  representing 
some  anomaly  in  their  faculties;  and  any  imperfection  in  the 
mode  of  union  of  the  segments  of  the  skull  cannot  fail  to 
enlighten  the  etiology  and  pathology  of  our  subject. 

Nothing  hinders  us  now  from  entering  into  the  study  of 
the  physiological  symptoms  after  having  taken  a  rapid  survey 
of  the  infant  born  idiotic,  or  predisposed  to  idiocy. 

The  only  thing  which  could  tempt  us  to  form  a  diagnosis 
when  the  child  is  just  born,  is  the  often  monstrous  shape 
exhibited  by  the  head.  But  it  is  so  difficult  to  appreciate 
what  part  of  it  is  due  to  deficiency  of  nutrition  or  to  tran- 
sitory compressions  from  manoeuvres  or  instruments;  and  the 
head  is  endowed  with  such  a  power  of  reaction  and  self- 
modulation  against  these  transient  deformities,  that  we  had 
better  let  it  receive  its  own  finishing  touch  before  venturing 
on  the  expression  of  a  judgment  upon  its  unfinished  state. 
But  after  the  first  cries,  the  child  shuts  himself  up  into  a 
chrysalid  life.  He  is  rosy  and  rather  puffy,  or  greyish  and 
shrivelled  in  his  loose  integuments,  according  to  his  general 
health.  For  a  time  nothing  more  of  him  may  be  foreseen 
than  is  seen.  Even  a  few  months  later,  if  the  mother,  feeling 
her  baby  without  reaction  in  her  embrace,  seized  with  a  secret 
presentiment,  seeks  for  advice,  the  physician  rarely  happens 
to  see  him  otherwise  than  nursing  and  sleeping.  He  has 
scarcely  the  chance  to  notice  the  head  hanging  back,  or  roll- 
ing on  the  pillow  automatically ;  the  eyes  unlighted  and  play- 
ing the  penduluni  in  their  sockets,  fixed,  or  upward  or 
sidevv'ays ;  the  difficulty  of  swallowing  the  milk  once  drawn 
in  the  mouth ;  the  absence  of  voice  or  its  animal  sounds ;  the 
inability  of  the  spine  to  support  the  body;  the  flaccidity  of 
the  legs ;  the  hands  closed,  thumbs  inward,  by  the  side,  instead 
of  coming  out  from  the  cradle  to  take  with  a  firm  grasp 
their  share  of  this  world. 


40  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

In  the  midst  of  this  uncertainty,  profuse  sahvation,  involun- 
tary excretions,  imperfect  sensations  or  disordered  movements 
appear  daily  more  settled,  instead  of  the  opposite  abilities 
vainly  expected.  Or  after  a  fall,  or  blow,  exposure  to  cold, 
insolation,  prolonged  successions,  fright,  or  in  the  period  of 
teething,  coma  sets  in  or  convulsions  appear.  After  which 
some  function  of  the  reflex  or  voluntary  order,  motor  or  sen- 
sitive, is  impaired.  But  the  commotion  of  the  cerebro-spinal 
axis  may  be  temporary  or  prolonged,  producing  more  con- 
vulsions, deeper  coma,  other  incapacitations;  throwing  the 
little  sufferer  far  behind  his  fellows,  or  leaving  him  a  con- 
firmed idiot.  Between  these  two  extremes  the  majority  of 
young  idiots  do  not  differ  very  sensibly  from  common  babies ; 
because  the  power  of  both  may  be  expressed  by  the  same 
verb,  they  cannot.  But  to-morrow  the  well  infant  will  use 
his  hands,  the  idiot  will  allow  his  to  hang  in  half  flexion; 
the  first  will  move  his  head  at  will,  the  second  will  toss  it 
about ;  the  look  of  the  former  penetrates  every  day  farther 
than  the  domain  of  the  touch,  that  of  the  latter  has  no  straight 
dart  and  wanders  from  the  inner  to  the  outer  canthus;  the 
one  will  sit  erect  on  his  spine,  the  other  shall  remain  re- 
cumbent where  left;  the  first  will  laugh  in  your  face  with  a 
contagious  will,  the  second  shall  not  be  moved  into  an  intel- 
lectual or  social  expression  by  any  provocation  whatever. 
And  each  day  carves  more  deeply  the  differential  characters 
of  both ;  not  by  making  the  idiot  worse,  unless  from  bad 
habits  gotten  by  neglect,  but  by  the  hourly  progress  of  the 
other.  Idiocy  so  viewed  from  its  origin  is  a  continuance  of 
the  isolation  and  helplessness  of  babyhood  under  ampler 
forms  and  obsolete  proportions.  Compared  unavoidably  with 
children  of  his  age,  the  idiot  seems  to  grow  worse  every 
day;  his  tardy  improvement  looking  like  backward  steps. 
With  his  incapacity  of  action,  of  expression,  of  feeling,  he 
makes  a  sickening  sight  indeed  b}^  the  side  of  a  bright  child 
entering  into  the  intricacies  of  life  as  on  an  open  play-ground. 

At  this  stage  there  can  be  no  mistake ;  we  see  plainly  what 
he  is,  and  we  can  describe  what  we  see.  This  is  the  time 
when  the  study  of  the  physiological  sym.ptoms  will  make  up 
for  the  deficiency  of  the  anatomo-pathological  ones. 


Idiocy.  41 

The  functions  of  organic  life  are  generally  below  the  normal 
standard.  The  respiration  is  not  deep;  the  pulse  is  without 
resistance.  The  appetite  is  sometimes  quite  abnormal  in  its 
objects  or  limited  to  a  few  things,  rarely  voracious,  though 
it  looks  so,  owing  to  the  unconventional  or  decidedly  animal 
modes  of  eating  and  drinking  of  these  children.  The  swallow- 
ing of  the  food  without  being  masticated,  only  rolled  up  in 
saliva,  resumes  many  of  these  imperfections  which  are  to 
be  attributed  in  variable  proportions  to  absence  of  intelli- 
gence, want)  of  action  of  the  will  on  the  organs  of  mastication 
and  deglutition,  deformity  of  and  want  of  relation  between 
the  same.  As  might  be  expected,  imperfect  chewing  produces 
on  them,  as  on  other  children,  unpleasant  effects,  but  no  more. 
Their  excretions  cannot  be  said  to  present  any  dissimilarity 
from  those  of  others  which  our  senses  can  discriminate ;  only 
their  sebaceous  matters  are  as  different  from  ours  as  ours 
are  from  those  of  the  variously  colored  races,  or  from  those 
emitted  in  most  diseases. 

The  functions  of  animal  life,  or  of  relation,  are  generally 
affected  in  idiocy;  either  by  perversion,  diminution,  or  sup- 
pression. We  shall  begin  the  study  of  these  anomalies  in 
the  organs  whose  contractility  has  for  object  the  movements 
of  displacement  and  prehension. 

The  incapacity  of  walking,  and  of  prehending  objects,  to 
whatever  degree  it  exists,  gives  the  measure  of  the  isolation 
of  the  idiot.  He  is  isolated  because  he  cannot  go  to  the 
distant  phenomena;  he  is  isolated  because  he  cannot  possess 
himself  of  those  which  come  in  the  range  of  his  imperfect 
grasp;  he  is  doubly  immured  in  his  muscular  infirmity.  The 
same  motor  function  may  exist,  but  escaping  the  control  of 
the  will,  it  produces  movements  more  or  less  disordered, 
mechanical,  spasmodic,  or  automatic.  Disordered,  when  their 
Vv^ant  of  harmony  prevents  the  accomplishment  of  their  object; 
mechanical,  when  their  recurrence,  in  the  course  of  other 
normal  movements,  cannot  be  otherwise  produced  or  pre- 
vented, but  can  hardly  be  postponed  by  a  superior  influence; 
spasmodic,  when  they  proceed  from  an  accessory  condition  of 
the  nerves  congener  to  chorea  or  epilepsy;  automatic,  when 
they  consist  in  the  continuity  or  frequent  recurrence  of  a 
single  unavoidable  gesture,  without  object  or  meaning.    The 


42  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

simple  disorder  of  movements  involves  a  waste  of  nervous 
power  disabling,  more  or  less,  the  child  for  useful  activity, 
but  not  depriving  him  of  it  entirely.  The  mechanism  throws, 
unexpectedly,  some  instinctive  jerk  or  motion  in  the  midst 
of  well-regulated  actions.  The  spasmodism  accompanies  all 
actions,  as  in  chorea,  or  substitutes  itself  at  times  for  all  the 
normal  acts,  as  in  epileptic  seizures.  The  automatism  acts 
as  a  substitute  for  all,  or  nearly  all  other  modes  of  con- 
tractility; it  incapacitates  more  and  more  the  child's  muscular 
power  for  any  useful  purposes ;  and,  as  a  sorry  compensation, 
furnishes  him  with  a  supply  of  involuntary  instead  of  volun- 
tary exercise.  Of  the  four  anormal  ways  of  expending  use- 
lessly and  unwillingly  the  contractile  force  allotted  to  the 
muscular  system,  automatism  is  the  most  tenacious,  when, 
for  years  past,  no  physiological  action  has  been  induced  by 
proper  training  in  its  stead. 

Idiocy  affects  the  body  in  its  general  habits,  as  bending 
forward,  throwing  the  head  backward,  moving  it  in  a  rotatory 
manner  which  seems  impossible,  swinging  the  body  to  and 
fro,   or  in   a   sort  of  sideway  roll. 

Another  anomaly  of  contractility  is  its  difference  in  either 
side.  Whatever  wise  provisions  have  been  made  to  secure 
the  unity  of  action  of  the  two  sides  which  look  like  two 
men  living  right  and  left  under  the  same  skin  and  name,  as 
anastomoses  everywhere,  decussations  in  the  medulla  spinalis,  me- 
dulla oblongata,  and  nerves  of  special  sense ;  connection  of  both 
cerebrum  and  cerebellum,  by  the  pons  varolii,  corpus  callosum, 
and  commissures ;  notwithstanding  all  these,  one  side  of  the 
body,  of  the  limbs,  of  the  nerves,  and,  some  observers  think, 
of  the  brain  too,  seems  to  take  the  lead.  Who  uses  equally 
both  hands?  Who  is  sure  that  he  does  not  think  and  express 
himself  mostly  by  the  impulse  of  a  single  hemisphere?  These 
apparent  deviations  from  the  pre-ordained  human  type  strikes 
more  in  idiots,  who  are  often  more  incapable,  colder  or  weaker 
on  one  side  without  hemiplegia,  who  walk  better  and  step 
higher  with  their  left  foot,  who  are  oftener  left-handed  than 
ordinary  children,  and  who  write,  if  not  corrected,  from  right 
to  left,  as  the  Bible  was  written. 

Contrarily,  idiots,  but  not  the  lowest,  seek  sometimes  for 
the  repetition  on  one  side  of  impressions  they  have  previously 


Idiocy.  43 

received  on  the  other,  even  if  these  inflict  pain.  But  common 
children  are  found  doing  the  same,  and  very  likely  continue 
to  do  it  until  experience  has  taught  them  the  more  summary 
process  of  trusting  to  the  experience  of  a  single  side-apparatus. 

The  swinging  of  the  body  in  walking,  or  in  the  sitting 
posture,  is  characteristic  of  the  disorders  of  contractility; 
besides,  it  is  no  doubt  connected  with  some  defect  of  the 
central  nervous  organs.  We  have  seen  similar  uncertainty 
of  gait  in  persons  who  have  received  a  severe  shock,  or  who 
labored  under  meningitis,  who  carried  a  large  aneurism,  or 
after  having  repeated  pleurisies  on  one  side ;  and  we  noticed 
the  same  swinging  in  a  young  soldier  who  had  two  bullets 
lodged  in  the  left  side  of  his  chest.  Besides,  a  set  of  special 
organs  may  be  separately  or  collectively  affected,  as  we  have 
seen  those  of  the  movements  of  totality  by  want  of  synergy, 
which  simulates  paralysis ;  or  by  one  of  the  anomalies  of 
motion  mentioned  above.  By  inability  of  transmitting  the 
orders  of  the  will  to  any  of  the  special  organs,  their  functions 
are  abolished  or  only  altered  in  many  modes  which  challenge 
a  general  description ;  and  by  the  disorders  of  mechanism, 
automatism,  etc.  Moreover,  special  functions  may  be  vari- 
ously disordered  in  so  many  ways,  that  sooner  than  writing 
a  volume  full  of  these  anomalies,  we  shall  refer  for  their 
description,  if  important,  to  some  observations  to  be  found 
at  the  end  of  this  volume.  Another  reason  for  not  describing 
them  separately  is,  that  they  are  ordinaril}^  blended  with  those 
of  special  perception ;  and  that  some  of  them  will,  in  conse- 
quence, be  treated  of,  together  with  some  nervous  disorders, 
under  the  common  head  of  anomalies  of  the  senses. 

As  we  just  premised,  several  anomalies  of  movement  in 
idiots  are  more  or  less  allied  to  dullness,  exaltation,  or  other 
perversions  of  the  touch ;  and  we  have  to  mention  a  few  of 
these  complications  before  studying  the  isolated  deviations 
of  the  sense  itself.  Dullness  of  tact  incites  some  idiots  to 
strike  their  fingers  against  the  hardest  bodies,  with  apparent 
pleasure  and  irresistible  eagerness ;  others  to  throw  their  thin- 
boned  foreheads  against  persons  and  things,  making  them 
rebound  and  resound  as  if  suffering  were  pleasure,  or  both 
these  feelings  abolished.  Contrarily,  some  children  whose 
hand-tact   is   null,  or   hand-touch   uneducated,   substitute   to 


44  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

them  the  head-tact  and  touch,  actually  tacting  with  the  latter 
the  things  they  desire  or  repulse ;  caressing  with  it  the  person 
they  love.  How  could  so  different  aberrations  of  a  sense 
exist  in  idiots?  But  how  is  it  that  as  soon  as  their  hand 
is  taught  to  touch,  their  forehead  loses  the  power  of  touching 
and  feeling? 

The  following  are  examples  of  another  kind  of  hyperses- 
thesia : — Some  of  our  children  will  be  unable  to  touch  any- 
thing, but  with  the  delicacy  of  the  humming-bird,  and  seem 
to  suffer  greatly  from  any  other  mode  of  contact  imposed 
upon  the  hands.  The  feet  of  others  are  so  much  affected  with 
similar  exaltation  of  sensibility,  that  the  thinnest  shoes  pain 
them,  and  the  contact  of  the  softest  carpet  or  floor  makes 
them  recoil  or  advance,  as  if  they  could  not  help  it,  and  as 
if  walking  on  live  coals.  The  hands  of  one  child  will  move 
with  prestidigitative  briskness  without  apparent  object,  single 
or  interlaced,  to  intercept  some  rays  of  light  falling  obliquely 
into  their  vacant  eyes.  Other  hands,  affected  with  disorder 
of  the  touch,  without  obvious  complication,  are  caressed, 
sucked,  bitten,  till  the  blood  starts,  or  a  heavy  callous  is 
formed  to  protect  them ;  others  are  constantly  bathed  in 
saliva,  and  their  skin  nearly  resembles  that  of  the  washer- 
woman: these  hands  feel,  out  of  the  mouth,  like  fish  out 
of  water.  We  could  multiply  these  examples  of  anomalies 
of  sensation,  single  or  double,  merely  tactile  or  altogether 
tactile  and  contractile,  by  which  the  hand  is  robbed  of  its 
powers  as  an  instrument  of  touch,  as  well  as  of  prehension. 

Setting  aside  these  localized  tactile  disorders,  general  sen- 
sibility proper  is  dull  in  idiots,  who  are  soon  benumbed  by 
cold  and  less  affected  by  heat,  but  much  prostrated  by  the 
atmospheric  modifications  of  a  thunder-storm. 

With  them  the  Taste  and  Smell  are  oftener  indifferent  than 
anormal.  Rarely  we  see  them  have  a  taste  for  non-alimentary 
substances,  or  an  exclusive  appetence  for  one  kind  of  food. 
Some  of  them,  without  swallowing,  chew  beads,  suck  pieces 
of  broken  china,  etc.,  with  apparent  relish.  The  Smell  may 
take  possession  of  the  same  articles  and  scent  them  for  hours, 
or  delight  in  the  fragrance  of  two  pieces  of  silex,  stricken 
one  against  the  other;  or,  this  sense  may  substitute  itself 
for  any  other,  as  a  means  of  discrimination  and  knowledge; 


Idiocy.  45 

or,  on  the  contrary,  be  dead-like  to  all  intent  and  appearance. 
But  the  difference  between  the  errors  of  functions  of  these 
two  senses  is,  that  the  Taste  is  oftener  depraved,  and  the 
Smell  is  more  frequently  exalted. 

The  Hearing  is  sometimes  so  passive  and  limited,  and  the 
intellectual  wants  so  disinterested  to  the  noises  transmitted 
to  the  ear,  that  the  idiot,  though  possessed  of  perfect  organs 
of  audition,  is  practically  deaf,  and,  of  course,  mute;  no  deaf- 
ness, and  yet  no  hearing.  Therefore,  it  is  prudent  to  remember 
that  next  to  the  deafness  from  birth,  or  from  infantile  dis- 
eases, there  is  an  intellectual  deafness  from  idiocy;  the  only 
one  which  we  shall  specially  consider.  In  this  interesting 
condition  the  child  may  hear  and  even  audit  the  sound  of 
objects  that  he  knows  and  wishes  for,  and  none  other.  For 
instance,  he  hears  music  and  no  articulated  voices;  or  he 
may  retain  and  repeat  tunes,  and  not  be  able  to  hear  or 
repeat  a  single  word.  He  may  even,  in  extreme  cases,  be 
absolutely  indifferent,  and,  consequently,  appear  really  insen- 
sible to  sounds ;  and  then  the  diagnosis  has  to  be  postponed 
till  the  state  of  the  organ  and  function  is  thoroughly  ascer- 
tained by  an  experimental  training  of  that  sense.  So  far, 
he  is  practically  deaf  and  mute,  but  is  not  so  organically. 
This  difficulti  point  in  diagnosis  has  caused  many  mistakes. 

The  Sight  may  be  as  badly  and  more  ostentatiously  im- 
paired than  the  Hearing.  Be  it  fixed  in  one  canthus,  be  it 
wandering  and  unfixable,  be  it  glossy,  laughing,  like  a  picture 
moving  behind  a  m.otionless  varnish,  be  it  dull  and  immured 
to  images,  its  meanings  are  not  doubtful ;  it  means  idiocy. 
Our  impressions  here  would  be  very  incorrect  if  they  conveyed 
the  idea  that  these  defects  of  vision  prevent  the  child  from 
seeing.  The  images  being  printed  on  their  passing  into  the 
ocular  chamber,  as  the  river-side  scenery  is  on  the  passing 
current,  the  child,  when  he  pays  an  accidental  attention,  gets 
a  notion  of  some  of  them,  but  the  transitory  perception  pro- 
duced thereby  can  hardly  serve  him  for  educational  purposes. 
The  principal  characters  of  this  infirmity  are,  the  repugnance 
of  the  child  to  look  and  the  incapacity  of  his  will  to  control 
the  organs  of  vision;  he  sees  by  chance,  but  never  looks. 
These  defects  of  the  Sight,  when  grave,  are  always  con- 
nected with   automatic   motions,   and    both    oppose    serious 


46  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

obstacles  to  progress;  one  by  the  ease  with  which  the  child 
can  use  his  negative  will  to  prevent  the  training  of  his  eyes, 
the  other  by  depriving  him  of  all  knowledge  to  be  acquired 
farther  than  the  touch  can  reach.  This  complication  makes 
a  child  look  very  unfavorably  indeed,  and  increases  much 
the  task  of  his  teacher. 

Some  idiots  are  deprived  of  speech,  that  is  to  say,  do  not 
pronounce  a  word.  Some,  speaking  a  few  words  more  or  less 
connected  in  sentences,  have  yet  no  language ;  for  the  word 
language  conveys  with  it  the  meaning  of  interchange  of  ideas. 
In  this  acceptation,  language  does  not  belong  to  idiots  before 
they  are  educated,  nor  to  those  who  are  but  imperfectly  so, 
and,  consequently,  they  have  a  speech  more  or  less  limited, 
but  no  language ;  strictly  speaking,  speech  represents  the 
function,  language  the  faculty. 

AVhen  we  come  to  examine  the  anomalies  of  the  speech, 
as  here  defined,  it  is  well  to  exclude,  previously,  the  many 
organic  disorders  which  may  interfere  with  it  as  a  function, 
and  which  have  nothing  to  do  with  idiocy  but  as  an  external 
impediment  and  exogenous  aggravation.  For,  because  a 
child  is  idiotic,  it  does  not  necessarily  follow  that  his  organs 
of  perceiving  speech  and  of  expressing  language  may  not 
be  impaired  by  some  independent  affection.  Idiotic  or  intelli- 
gent, a  child  may  be  deprived  of  hearing,  or  of  the  movements 
necessary  to  form  the  speech,  directly  by  malformation  or 
paralysis,  or  indirectly  by  the  many  causes  producing  deaf- 
ness. These  are  the  causes  of  the  organic  mutism  which  must 
never  be  attributed  to  idiocy,  but  which  too  often  aggra- 
vates it. 

To  substantiate  in  a  few  words  the  causes  of  the  functional 
mutism  derived  from  idiocy,  we  point  out,'  first,  the  incapacity 
of  the  will  to  move  the  organs;  second,  the  long  silence  in 
which  idiots  have  confirmed  their  mutism,  like  prisoners  have 
gotten  theirs  in  protracted  confinement;  third,  the  absence  of 
persevering  and  intelligent  efforts  of  their  friends  to  make 
them  speak ;  fourth,  the  want  of  desire  to  exercise  that  func- 
tion, and  the  want  of  understanding  of  the  power  of  speech 
as  a  faculty. 

In  this  wreck  of  powers,  one  human,  irresistible  tendency 
or  impulse  is  left  him ;  for  as  low  as  we  find  him,  lower  than 


Idiocy.  47 

the  brute  in  regard  to  activity  and  intelligence,  he  has,  as 
the  great,  the  lowly,  the  privileged,  the  millions,  his  hobby 
or  amulet  that  no  animal  has :  the  external  thing  toward  which 
his  human,  centrifugal  power  gravitates ;  if  it  be  only  a  broken 
piece  of  china,  a  thread,  a  rag,  an  unseizable  ray  of  the  sun, 
he  shall  spend  his  life  in  admiring,  kissing,  catching,  polish- 
ing, sucking  it,  according  to  what  it  may  be.  Till  we  take 
away  that  amulet,  as  A'Toses  took  it  from  his  people,  we  must 
have  something  to  substitute  for  it.  This  worship  or  occu- 
pation shows  that  if  the  idiot  can  form,  of  himself,  no  other 
connexion  with  the  world,  he  is  ready  to  do  so  if  we  only 
know  how  to  help  him. 

That  the  idiot  is  endowed  with  a  moral  nature,  no  one 
who  has  had  the  happiness  of  ministering  to  him  will  deny. 
Epileptic,  paralytic,  choreic,  or  imbecile  children  will  often 
strike  or  bite  their  mother  or  affectionate  attendant.  If  any 
idiot  is  found  doing  the  same  (and  we  never  found  any)  he 
must  have  been  taught  it  by  some  cruel  treatment  imposed 
upon  him.  In  general,  as  soon  as  his  mind  is  opened  to 
reflection,  the  tender  family  feelings  are  so  deep  in  him  that 
they  often  interfere  with  his  successful  transplantation  into 
the  broader  and  richer  ground  of  our  public  institutions. 

It  is  true  that  his  habits  are  sad,  droll,  or  repulsive;  that  his 
doings  are  often  worse  than  none ;  but  these  manifestations 
exhibit  as  much  the  carelessness  and  want  of  intelligence  of 
the  parents  or  keepers  as  they  do  the  primary  character  of 
the  infirmity.  Does  not  the  idiot,  in  making  his  silly  gestures, 
tacitly  say,  "See  what  I  am  doing;  if  you  knew  how  to 
teach  me  better  and  more  I  would  do  it."  It  is  true,  that 
previous  to  being  educated,  the  slightest  work  is  too  much 
for  him,  and  makes  him  recoil;  but  if  we  succeed  in  making 
him  believe  that  he  has  accomplished  a  real  object,  emulation 
will  appear  and  shed  a  ray  of  satisfaction  over  his  face.  He 
is  sensible  to  eulogy,  reproach,  command,  menace,  even  to 
imaginary  punishment ;  he  sympathizes  with  the  pains  he  can 
understand;  he  loves  those  who  love  him;  he  tries  to  please 
those  who  please  him ;  his  sense  of  duty  and  propriety  is 
limited,  but  perfect  in  its  kind ;  his  egotism  is  moderate ;  his 
possessive  and  retentive  propensities  sufficient;  his  courage, 
if  not  Samsonian,  is  not  aggressive,  and  may  easily  be  culti- 


48  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

vated.  As  a  collective  body,  idiotic  children  are,  in  their 
institutions,  equal  in  order  and  decency,  in  true  lovingness, 
if  not  in  loveliness,  to  any  collection  of  children  in  the  land. 
Their  moral  powers  are  influenced  by  isolation,  company, 
multitude,  silence,  turmoil,  music,  human  eloquence,  as  they 
are  in  all  masses  of  mankind.  If  we  are  asked  how  we  pretend 
to  see  all  these  good  and  promising  dispositions  in  the  un- 
fortunate subject  whom  we  have  depicted  as  more  or  less 
motionless,  speechless  and  repulsive,  we  can  afQrm  that  the 
idiot,  even  when  neglected  in  his  lowest  conditions,  does  not 
manifest  any  character  contrary  to  the  one  here  described;  a 
character  which  we  have  seen  him  assume,  steadily  and 
uniformly,  under  the  influence  of  a  proper  training,  and,  as 
we  firmly  believe,  in  virtue  of  his  own  moral  nature;  he  is 
one  of  us  in  mankind,  but  shut  up  in  an  imperfect  envelope. 

Therefore  we  must  not  confound  with  imbeciles,  insanes, 
epileptics,  etc.,  the  harmless  idiot,  sitting  awkwardly,  bashful, 
or  at  least  reserved  on  our  approach.  He  will  answer  us  if 
he  can,  rarely  mistaking,  never  deceiving,  but  oftentimes  fail- 
ing to  understand.  His  mind  is  extremely  limited  but  not 
deranged,  and  with  no  special  tendency  to  final  insanity.  He 
has  been  hurt  often,  but  he  never  assailed  anybody;  he  loves 
quiet  places  and  arrangements;  repeated  monotonous  sounds, 
or  stillness,  and  above  all  plain  and  familiar  faces ;  he  has  a 
look,  not  of  envy  at  things  and  persons,  but  of  abstraction, 
gazing  far  out  of  this  world  into  a  something  which  neither 
we  nor  he  can  discern. 

How  could  any  child,  subject  to  other  disease  or  infirmity, 
be  mistaken  for  him?  Nevertheless  this  confusion  takes  place. 
Practically  and  legally,  the  idiot  has  been  assimilated  to 
unfortunate  beings  whose  rights  upon  society  are  different 
from  his ;  and  he  has  sufifered  deeply  by  the  mistake. 

The  child  nearest  akin  to  an  idiot  is  called  simply  back- 
ward, in  French  enfant  arriere;  his  character  may  be  better 
delineated  by  comparison  with  the  idiot,  who  presents  even 
in  superficial  cases  an  arrest  of  development,  whilst  the 
feeble-minded  child  is  only  retarded  in  his.  The  idiot  has 
disordinate  movements,  cannot  use  his  hands,  swings  his  body 
in  walking,  presents  some  sensorial  vices  or  incapacity;  on 
the   other  hand,   the  backward  child  is   free   from   any   dis- 


Idiocy.  49 

ordered  activity,  uses  his  hands  naturally  but  with  very  little 
effectiveness,  v^alks  without  defect,  but  without  firmness  or 
elasticity,  presents  no  sensorial  anomaly  but  does  not  much 
use  his  senses  to  quicken  his  sluggish  comprehension;  when 
the  idiot  does  not  seem  to  make  any  progress,  and  when  the 
ordinary  child  improves  in  the  ratio  of  ten,  the  backward 
child  improves  only  in  that  of  one,  two,  three,  or  five.  This 
child  may  be,  and  is  in  fact,  actually  educated  with  the  con- 
firmed idiot;  and  there  is  no  inconvenience,  but  advantage, 
in  their  being  treated  alike. 

The  same  could  not  be  said  of  the  following  case,  which  is 
now  as  rarely  met  among  idiots  as  it  frequently  was  thirty 
years  ago  in  the  "  hospices  "  and  poor-houses.  He  looks  digni- 
fied, sad,  depressed,  wistful,  immovable,  idiotic — but  worse 
than  an  idiot,  he  is  a  dement.  There  does  not  seem  to  be 
a  sensible  difference  between  them,  but  idiocy  is  accompanied 
by  some  sensorial  disorders,  begins  young,  by  its  worst  symp- 
toms, and  generally  ends  quite  early;  whilst  dementia  com- 
mences in  later  life,  is  accompanied  by  an  insidious  touch  of 
paralysis,  especially  of  the  sphincters ;  it  soon  alters  the  alae 
nasi  and  the  external  auditory  apparatus,  and  eventually  may 
continue  to  a  great  age,  ending  by  its  worst  symptoms. 

A  young  lad  who  looks  and  stands  like  an  idiot,  with  deep, 
dull  eyes,  hollow  cheeks,  thin,  hanging  hands,  flesh  gone  from 
his  long,  lank  limbs,  and  empty  frame ;  a  prey  to  fever,  languor, 
inappetence;  tired  of  everything,  forgetting  instead  of  learn- 
ing, avoiding  company  and  light,  sleepless  yet  never  wide 
awake,  speech  embarrassed,  mind  absent,  hope,  gayety,  cheer- 
fulness, friendship,  love,  future,  all  given  up  for  the  worship 
of  one's  self,  and  of  a  few  apparitions  evoked  by  the  mania 
of  self-destruction ;  his  tendency  is  toward  early  death,  through 
imbecility  or  dementia. 

Though  insanity  is  not  common  among  children,  it  is  easily 
mistaken  in  them  for*idiocy,  notwithstanding  that  every  day 
marks  a  new  difference  between  the  two.  Thus  incipient 
insanity  does  not  affect  the  general,  nor  the  special  move- 
ments as  idiocy  does;  nor  the  general,  but  the  sensorial  sen- 
sibility, producing  mistaken  sensations  as  hallucinations,  that 
idiocy  does  not.  Intellectually,  the  young  insane  may  learn 
easily  or  with  incredible  facility;  but  has  rarely  the  com- 
4' 


50  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

prehensive  retention  which  amasses  true  learning;  the  idiot 
has  a  negative  will  or  none,  the  insane  has  a  deep,  fated-like 
determination.  We  have  observed  two  classes  of  these  chil- 
dren laboring  under  a  more  or  less  confirmed  tendency  to 
insanity.  One  has  a  firm  step,  bright  colors  and  general 
richness  of  tissue ;  his  ears  reddening  occasionally,  and  his 
eyes  flashing  instead  of  quietly  looking.  Incapable  of  atten- 
tion though  he  tries  hard,  loving  and  impressible,  there  may 
be  something  the  matter  with  his  speech,  as  periods  of  mutism 
and  of  loquacity;  thus,  by  times,  he  cannot  repeat  a  word, 
and  at  others  he  will  spontaneously  emit  several  sentences. 
He  commands  with  difficulty  to  his  movements,  as  those  neces- 
sary for  drawing,  gymnastics,  etc.  He  is  clean,  has  no  diffi- 
culty in  dressing  himself,  his  hands  are  perfect,  no  function 
seems  altered;  but  the  older  he  grows  the  stranger  he  looks, 
till  finally  he  gives  signs  of  incoherence.  The  other  one  is 
a  fine  child  too,  physically,  but  rather  pale  and  angular.  His 
traits  of  character  are  more  strongly  delineated  than  those 
of  the  first.  His  features  are  sharper,  his  look  more  shaded 
by  the  brow,  his  mind  deeper,  his  intellectual  culture  easier, 
his  moral  propensities  worse.  He  is  jealous,  cruel,  unflinching, 
yielding  to  force  only,  losing  nothing  of  his  natural  tendency 
to  cruel  sprightliness  under  a  temporary  pressure  of  authority. 
He  has  of  the  idiot  neither  the  gentleness,  the  blank  look, 
the  deficiency  of  understanding,  the  timidity,  the  obedience, 
the  affection.  Every  day  shows  his  moral  character  by  more 
and  more  of  these  traits  which  make  him  dangerous,  and  fit 
him  only  for  seclusion.  When  quite  young,  children  such 
as  these  are  readily  accepted  in  the  institution  for  idiots, 
because  they  do  not  then  apparently  differ  from  these  latter, 
as  the  baby  idiot  looks  like  a  well-born  child,  as  long  as 
both  cannot  make  any  comparative  show  of  activity;  so,  as 
long  as  there  can  be  no  display  of  reasoning  or  of  human 
passions  it  is  nearly  impossible  to  discriminate  them.  Of 
the  two  kinds  of  children  with  insane  propensities,  the  first 
needs  more  education,  and  is  more  impervious  to  it;  the 
second  requires  more  moral  training,  and  is  the  more  refrac- 
tory to  its  rules.  We  have  studied  only  those  two  classes 
of  children  tending  to  insanity,  but  we  think  that  there  are 
several  more. 


Idiocy.  51 

Next,  and  last,  we  notice  the  imbecile  who,  whatever  may 
be  the  origin  of  his  infirmity,  is  generally  mistaken  for  an 
idiot.  He  is  rarely  affected  with  muscular  or  sensorial  dis- 
orders, unless  from  accessory  causes,  such  as  chorea,  or 
hemiplegia,  or  made  worse  by  self-abuse ;  his  affection  is  more 
referable  to  the  condition  of  the  nervous  centres,  and  is  of 
an  intellectual  cast,  bearing  on  attention,  memory,  reason, 
etc.  He  has  arrived  at  that  condition  of  mental  degenera- 
tion by  any  of  the  circumstances  which  produce  deficiency 
of  nutrition,  and  cause  idiocy  in  early  life,  and  imbecility 
in  subsequent  years.  The  imbecile  having,  previously  to  the 
arrest  of  his  development,  acquired  experience  of  things  and 
persons,  and  gathered,  consequently,  instinctive  and  social 
feelings;  the  same  cause  which  leaves  at  the  outset  of  life, 
the  idiot  incapable,  ignorant  and  innocent,  leaves,  later,  the 
imbecile  self-confident,  half-witted,  and  ready  to  receive  im- 
moral impressions,  satisfactory  to  his  intense  egotism.  Hence, 
we  see  him  coming  forward  with  an  ungainly  aspect,  making 
show  of  his  trinkets,  and  offering  them  for  trade;  he  can 
read,  more  or  less ;  speaks  confusedly,  and  recites  verses  with 
pouting  emphasis  and  sprinkling  of  saliva.  He  might  do 
some  kind  of  work  which  may  be  accomplished  by  the  repeti- 
tion of  simple  movements,  if  his  mind  could  be  steadied  to 
any,  employment.  He  delights  in  the  company  of  street  boys, 
who  joke,  cheat,  and  abuse  him.  These  tastes  and  habits 
educate  him  to  boasting,  lying,  cruelty,  artifice,  jealousy,  and 
even  to  plotting,  robbery  and  arson,  with  a  strong 
dose  of  hatred  for  those  who  advise  him  to  take  a  better 
course.  Later,  these  moral  depravities  make  a  lodgment  in 
his  brain,  in  the  shape  of  false  reminiscences  or  spurious 
images  of  impossible  facts ;  he  mistakes  his  best  friend  for 
his  foe ;  does  not  feel  safe ;  has  seen  eyes  following  him  in 
the  night,  or  a  suspicious  light  cross  his  room ;  he  heard 
threats  behind  him ;  he  knows  the  fellow,  and  will  break  his 
neck.  The  next  we  hear  of  him  he  will  be  in  a  prison,  or 
insane  asylum,  or  involved  by  sharpers  in  a  law-suit;  to-day 
he  is  an  imbecile,  to-morrow  he  may  be  a  criminal. 

Supposing  no  omission,  here  are  five  classes  of  persons  con- 
founded with  idiots  without  reason,  nor  the  excuse  of  neces- 


52  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

sity.  This  confusion  bears  upon  their  position  educationally, 
socially,  and  legally. 

Four  of  the  five  classes  above  enumerated  require,  like 
idiots,  the  benefit  of  a  physiological  education ;  and  as  long 
as  there  is  no  provision  made,  especially  for  each,  their  whole- 
sale admission  with  idiots  looks  like  a  matter  of  course,  and 
is  very  much  so,  as  far  as  philanthropy  is  concerned.  Even 
in  respect  to  education  proper,  we  are  inclined  to  think  that 
the  teaching  part  of  the  method  is  calculated  to  do  equal 
good  to  those  unfortunate  children.  But  all  is  not  teaching 
in  our  training.  Deeper  than  the  exercises,  than  the  lessons, 
than,  the  incitations  addressed  to  activity  and  intelligence,  lies 
the  foundation  of  the  work — in  the  moral  training;  incessant 
influence,  which  is  like  the  spiritual  atmosphere  of  a  place 
of  this  kind,  intended  to  correspond  to  the  wants,  sympathies, 
and  resistances  to  be  encountered  \n  idiots.  If  we  except  the 
backward  children,  the  other  classes  require  different  and 
stronger  moral  agencies  to  act  upon  them ;  they  need  a  moral 
training  whose  character  may  be  defined  by  establishing  its 
situation  midway  between  that  of  Leuret  for  insane,  and 
ours  for  idiots. 

But  if  these  children,  uneducable  in  ordinary  schools,  and 
unprovided  with  special  ones,  must  be,  for  a  time  at  least, 
indiscriminately  treated  with  idiots,  this  necessity  does  not 
justify  their  confusion  with  them,  nor  the  social  indifference. 
Many  of  them  would  improve,  many  more  would  not  have 
fallen  into  bad  habits  and  criminal  partnerships,  if  they  had 
only  received  the  attention  bestowed  on  ordinary  children ; 
double  dereliction,  from  which  they  and  society  subsequently 
suffer.  In  this  abandonment  the  child  with  insane  propen- 
sities loses  sooner  and  more  completely  the  balance  of  his 
judgment,  or  the  control  of  his  passions;  the  imbecile 
familiarizes  himself  with  all  sorts  of  eccentricities  of  the  loAvest 
order;  the  backward  child  lapses  into  the  solitary  walks  of 
the  youth  who  avoids  company,  to  not  be  disturbed  in  his 
task  of  self-destruction;  and  the  idiot  shuts  himself  up  more 
and  more  in  his  isolation.  Hence,  by  a  just  return,  society 
is  occasionally  startled  by  deeds  of  horror  committed,  not 
so  much  by  these  irresponsible  beings  as  by  those  who 
neglected  their  duties  towards  them.     Even  now,  that  State 


Idiocy.  53 

and  National  institutions  have  been  founded  for  the  improve- 
ment of  idiots,  these  children  and  the  others  above  enumerated, 
when  sent  out  from  their  schools,  some  imperfectly  improved, 
some  very  little,  some  without  means  of  support  or  of  starting 
in  the  world,  some  without  friends  or  family  worth  claiming, 
will  be  exposed  to  imminent  dangers  to  themselves  and  others, 
till  asylums  shall  be  provided  for  their  refuge,  not  so  much 
against  their  own  vices  as  against  the  incitations  of  vicious 
people. 

The  legal  status  of  idiots  relative  to  property  is  that  of 
minors,  without  reservation  or  attenuation  for  the  kind,  the 
degree,  the  stage,  the  tendency  of  their  infirmity.  Cases 
susceptible  of  improvement  or  not,  cases  of  limited  but  rational 
understanding,  or  of  unsound  reasoning  and  ungrounded 
aspirations,  are  reduced  by  law  to  the  same  present  and 
future  incapacity  of  possession  and  usage.  It  seems  unjust, 
now  that  idiots  are  improved,  can  work,  spare,  behave  more 
or  less,  to  submit  them  to  the  same  legal  incapacities  which 
must  rule  the  maniac  who  mistakes  gold  for  cinders,  and 
vice  versa,  or  the  imbecile  ready  to  make  a  fortune  out  of  in- 
cessant barterings  in  which  he  means  to  cheat,  and  is  himself 
cheated.  The  patrimony  of  the  child  who  may  improve  at 
some  cost,  must  not  be  left  without  control  in  the  hands  of 
persons  interested  in  keeping  him  incapable.  In  England  the 
Sovereign,  here  the  Governor  of  the  State  is  the  guardian  of 
the  idiot.  Evidently  this  trust  is  too  distant  to  be  effective. 
The  Governor  should  delegate  his  guardianship  to  the  Super- 
intendent of  the  State  institution,  who  is  competent  to  advise 
about  what  might  be  profitably  expended  for  the  improvement 
of  the  child,  and  what  part  of  his  property  or  income  may 
be  progressively  intrusted  to  him  as  a  means  of  learning  the 
management  of  his  worldly  affairs.  Anything  short  of  this 
is  unjust,  and  leads  to  legal  spoliation. 

Their  personal  rights  are  no  more  respected ;  though,  under 
the  steady  improvement  of  their  aspirations  idiots  are  known 
to  have  become  worthy  of  the  blessings  that  society  offers 
and  religion  sanctifies. 

Criminal  legislation  treats  idiots  yet  worse.  As  we  just 
said,  out  of  their  institution  nothing  prevents  them  from  fall- 
ing into  the  snares  of  bad  company  but  their  good  natural 


54  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

tendencies.  But,  if  they  succumb,  tossed  between  lawyers 
who  hold  them  up  as  the  lowest  fellows,  or  the  most  cunning 
of  criminals,  findings  and  judgments  agree  in  sending  them 
where  they  cannot  improve,  but  must  grow  worse.  Although 
any  kind  of  confusion  is  painful  to  the  mind,  one  might 
conceive  that  the  dement  might  be  allowed  to  rot  in  the  same 
place  of  confinement  where  the  maniac  raves;  but  who  could 
see  without  sorrow  the  idiot  sent,  for  an  unconscious  or 
doubtful  crime,  where  the  imbecile  finds  himself  at  home 
among  men  of  his  stamp,  instead  of  being  sent  to  the  insti- 
tution where  he  might  be  educated,  or  to  an  asylum  where 
he  might  be  protected  against  bad  influences,  as  the  case 
might  demand. 

We  can,  therefore,  already  perceive  that  social  and  legal 
exigencies,  and  the  recent  creation  of  schools  for  training 
idiots,  naturally  lead  to  the  complementary  foundation  of 
asylums  for  such  as  have  no  family,  or  are  only  partially 
improved.  This  asylum  shall  be  a  happy  home  for  those  who 
could  have  no  other,  if  its  management  be  given  as  a  reward 
to  those  devoted  women  and  men  who  have  already  spent 
many  years  and  turned  white  their  young  hairs  at  the  task 
of  educating  idiots ;  any  other  persons  would  perpetuate  in 
the  new  asylum  the  hard  practices  of  the  hospices  and  the 
poor-house. 

But  while  we  demand  more  social  love,  more  legal  protec- 
tion, more  home  comforts  for  idiots  to  keep  up  with  the 
recent  improvement,  we  must  not  forget  that  the  institutions 
already  founded  for  them,  and  the  physiological  methods  of 
teaching,  will  shed  more  lustre  on  this  century  than  the  insti- 
tutions and  methods  for  teaching  deaf  mutes  did  on  the  last, 
if  we  are  as  conscious  of  our  duties  as  we  are  of  those  of 
society  toward  our  children.  In  their  name  we  have  asked 
and  received  palaces,  annuities,  and  we  may  even  say  the 
incubation  of  their  feeble  capacities  from  hundreds  of  devoted 
persons ;  but  are  we  sure  that  we  have  understood  our  sub- 
ject in  all  its  grandeur,  and  kept  it  on  the  high  philosophical 
ground  upon  which  it  can  stand  equally  the  test  of  criticism 
and  of  admiration? 

True,  idiots  have  been  improved,  educated,  and  even  cured ; 
not  one  in  a  thousand  has  been  entirely  refractory  to  treat- 


Idiocy.  55 

ment;  not  one  in  a  hundred  who  has  not  been  made  more 
happy  and  healthy ;  more  than  thirty  per  cent,  have  been 
taught  to  conform  to  social  and  moral  law  and  rendered 
capable  of  order,  of  good  feeling,  and  of  working  like  the 
third  of  a  man;  more  than  forty  per  cent,  have  become  capable 
of  the  ordinary  transactions  of  life  under  friendly  control, 
of  understanding  moral  and  social  abstractions,  of  working 
like  two-thirds  of  a  man;  and  twenty-five  to  thirty  per  cent, 
come  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  standard  of  manhood,  till  some 
of  them  will  defy  the  scrutiny  of  good  judges  when  compared 
with  ordinary  young  women  and  men. 

But  this  success,  honorable  as  it  is,  constitutes  only  one 
of  the  objects  to  be  attained  as  the  honest  return  due  to 
society  for  the  generous  support  afforded  to  those  who  took 
charge  of  the  new  establishments.  If  these  were  founded  for 
idiots,  idiots  seem  permitted  to  exist  and  are  expensively 
gathered  and  treated,  not  only  for  their  own  welfare,  but  for 
some  social  and  scientific  objects  which  disclose  themselves, 
when  we  advance  in  the  road  of  progress,  as  so  many  new 
duties  for  us  to  perform.  Among  these  raisons  d'etre  of  idiocy, 
the  most  urgent,  the  most  neglected  arises  from  the  light  to 
be  thrown  on  all  the  branches  of  anthropology  by  sound  and 
complete  observations  of  idiots  from  the  cradle  to  the  slab. 
But  to  this  day  there  is  not  one  complete  observation  followed 
thus  far.  This  point  we  must  reach.  Being  given  children 
whose  condition  prior  to  birth,  in  infancy,  youth,  and  man- 
hood is  perfectly  established;  having  studied  the  deficiencies 
and  the  disorders  of  their  functions,  their  intellectual  progress 
and  physical  development  under  a  physiological  training,  our 
love  for  them  and  their  fellows  must  follow  them  with  scalpel 
and  microscope  beyond  life,  to  mark  the  peculiarities  of  their 
organs  as  we  have  done  those  of  their  functions.  It  will  be 
impossible  to  collect  and  compare  fifty  such  observations  (and 
that  would  be  about  one  for  each  institution)  without  being 
surrounded  by  new  light  on  every  important  point  of  human 
philosophy;  not  only  upon  the  questions  bearing  directly 
on  idiocy,  but  upon  all  human  questions  pertaining  to  causality 
between  organs  and  functions.  These  questions  vainly  asked 
from  commonplace  subjects,  or  from  the  sick  or  the  insane, 
will  be  promptly  answered  by  the  comparison  of  a  few  mono- 


56  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

graphs  of  idiots.  That  these  exceptional  children  are  better 
subjects,  are  in  fact  nearly  the  only  subjects  fit  for  the  study 
of  the  impending  questions  of  anthropology,  will  be  readily 
admitted ;  considering  the  relative  sameness  of  the  organs  and 
of  the  functions  in  ordinary  subjects;  the  alteration  of  organs 
rarely  followed  by  corresponding  alterations  of  functions  in 
the  sick;  the  functional  disorders  not  often  accompanied  by 
alteration  of  organs  in  the  insane.  And  on  the  other  hand, 
considering  that  idiocy  is  not  an  accident  like  illness  or  in- 
sanity, but  a  condition  of  infirmity  as  settled  as  other  perma- 
nent conditions  of  life;  that  it  presents  to  our  comparison  all 
the  elements  of  a  norma,  whether  we  analyze  the  functions, 
whether  we  observe  the  organs;  this  correlative  status  of  the 
organs  and  functions  in  idiocy  is  at  the  same  time  so  certain 
and  so  extreme  that  it  affords  unequalled  data  to  the  student 
of  comparative  biology. 

Therefore,  we  set  down  as  one  of  the  most  important  duties 
of  the  new  institutions  the  production  of  these  monographs, 
which  need  not  be  numerous,  but  perfect.  These  monographs 
are  our  debt  of  gratitude  toward  society,  which  wants  them 
to  light  her  steps  onward ;  toward  idiots,  who  will  be  benefited 
by  a  better  comprehension  of  their  condition ;  and  toward  the 
sciences  accessory  to  anthropology,  which  have  never  been 
furnished  with  so  forcible  and  stable  elements  of  observation 
of  human  nature  as  those  accumulated  under  such  circum- 
stances ;  here,  and  very  likely  nowhere  else  at  the  present 
hour,  rest  the  expectations  of  the  inquirer. 

But  since  twenty  3-ears,  this  part  of  the  labor  has  been  left 
aside  for  the  more  urgent  object  of  founding  the  new  institu- 
tions on  a  solid  basis.  Now  everything  is  ready  for  the  triple 
work  of  improving  idiots,  of  studying  human  nature  from  its 
lowest  to  its  highest  manifestations ;  and  of  testing  on  idiots 
the  true  physiological  means  of  elevating  mankind  by  edu- 
cation, which  will  be  the  object  of  the  following  pages. 


PART  II 

PHYSIOLOGICAL  EDUCATION 

Idiots  could  not  be  educated  by  the  methods,  nor  cured 
by  the  treatments  practised  prior  to  1837;  but  most  idiots, 
and  children  proximate  to  them,  may  be  relieved  in  a  more 
or  less  complete  measure  of  their  disabilities  by  the  physiolog- 
ical  method  of  education. 

This  method,  object  of  the  present  exposition,  consists  in 
the  adaptation  of  the  principles  of  physiology,  through  physi- 
ological mean,s  and  instruments,  to  the  development  of  the 
dynamic,  perceptive,  reflective  and  spontaneous  functions  of 
youth. 

The  principles  are  not  the  method,  the  means,  and  instru- 
ments neither ;  but  the  co-action  of  both  constitutes  the  method 
of  education  contrived  for  idiots  and  already  appreciated  as 
"  an  example  worthy  of  imitation,  of  the  alliance  of  the  moral 
and  physical  sciences."* 

Therefore,  the  lessons  of  the  Hospitals  of  the  Incurables 
and  of  Bicetre,  of  the  schools  at  Boston  and  Syracuse,  have 
not  been  given  through  the  idiots  in  vain.  Visitors  came  in, 
and  every  one  carried  away  some  of  the  principles  or  instru- 
ments used  there,  according  to  the  chances  of  a  dail}^  prac- 
tice. Seeing  this,  physicians  could  no  longer  write  on  diseases 
of  children  without  expatiating  on  moral  or  functional  treat- 
ment, nor  teachers  go  back  to  their  schools  without  carrying 
v/ith  them  some  of  our  sensorial  gymnastics,  imitation  exer- 
cises, etc.  In  all  this,  truly  the  idiots  were  the  doctors  and 
the  teachers.  They  taught  as  much  as  could  be  seen  and 
understood  in  a  visit ;  they  taught,  besides,  that  idiots  are 
not  the  repulsive  beings  that  our  neglect  made  them,  and 
that  any  land  would  be  blessed  where  women  and  men  would 
devote  themselves  to  the  task  of  elevating  these  unfortunates. 
Hence,  institutions  for  their  education  have  sprung  up  every- 
where, and  the  physiological  method  was  scattered  piecemeal 
in  everv  educational  establishment. 


*  Rapport  de  MM.  Serres,  Flourens  et  Pariset,  k  TAcad^mie  des  Sciences.     Paris. 


58  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

This  mode  of  spreading  a  S3^stem,  by  breaking  it  up  as 
soon  as  formed,  if  not  flattering  to  inventors,  seems  to  be 
quite  a  favorite  process  of  civilization.  J.  R.  Pereire,  after 
teaching  for  forty  years  the  deaf  to  speak,  saw  this  method 
reduced  to  mimic  language  and  mutism.  J.  J.  Rousseau  did 
not  hear  bestowed  upon  the  writings  of  J.  P.  Richter  and  the 
school  of  Pestalozzi,  the  encomiums  deserved  by  his  own 
Emile.  Amoros  had  hardly  given  the  last  touch  to  his  com- 
pendium of  gymnastics  than  he  saw  it  broken  in  fragments 
by  the  limited  comprehension  of  his  own  admirers.  Itard  had 
no  knowledge  of  the  application  of  his  object-lessons  to  the 
Savage  of  Aveyron  by  the  Home  and  Colonial  Society.  Jaco- 
tot  assisted  at  the  apparent  burial  of  his  synthetical  teaching 
of  reading  by  words  first,  which  teaching  has  been  revived  so 
successfully  by  Dr.  Wilbur.  So  the  onward  movement  takes 
place,  through  other  oscillatory  movements,  by  ebb  and  flow ; 
and  progress  is  accomplished  even  by  apparent  retrograda- 
tion.  In  this  wise  the  truncated  application  to  public  schools 
of  the  physiological  method  of  training  has  made,  henceforth, 
its  total  application  an  unavoidable  necessity ;  and  its  more 
comprehensive  employment  in  several  institutions  has  en- 
riched it  with  many  new  devices,  derived  from  the  principle, 
by  practical  ingenuity.  Though  such  a  transitory  season  is 
not  very  favorable  to  the  reassertion  of  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples, it  is  the  very  time  when  we  need  it  most. 

Our  method,  to  be  really  physiological,  must  adapt  itself 
in  principles  as  well  as  in  its  means  and  instruments,  to  the 
healthy  development  and  usage  of  the  functions,  particularly 
of  those  of  the  life  of  relation :  the  apposition  to  be  true  must 
leave  no  gap,  suffer  no  discrepancy.  Man  being  a  unit,  is 
artificially  analyzed,  for  study's  sake,  into  his  three  prominent 
vital  expressions.,  activity,  intelligence,  and  will.  We  consider 
the  idiot  as  a  man  infirm  in  the  expressions  of  his  trinity; 
and  we  understand  the  method  of  training  idiots,  or  mankind, 
as  the  philosophical  agency  by  which  the  unity  of  manhood 
can  be  reached  as  far  as  practicable  in  our  day,  through  the 
trinary  analysis. 

According  to  this  Trinitarian  hypothesis,  we  shall  have  to 
educate  the  activity,  the  intelligence,  the  will,  three  functions 
of  the  unit   man,  not  three  entities  antagonistic  one  to  the 


Physiological  Education.  59 

other.  We  shall  have  to  educate  them,  not  with  a  serial 
object  in  view  (favorite  theory  of  A.  Comte),  but  with  a  sense 
of  their  unity  in  the  one  being. 

Activity,  besides  its  unconscious  and  organic  functions, 
divides  into  contractility  and  sensibility,  with  their  specific 
tendencies;  Intelligence  branches  into  many  sub-functions, 
and  Will  into  its  protean  expressions,  from  love  to  hatred. 

The  predominance  of  any  of  these  functions  constitutes 
a  disease ;  their  perversion  leads  to  insanity ;  their  notable 
deficiency  at  birth  constitutes  idiocy,  afterwards  imbecility, 
later  yet  dementia. 

Physiological  education,  including  hygienic  and  moral  train- 
ing, restores  the  harmony  of  these  functions  in  the  young, 
as  far  as  practicable,  separating  them  abstractedly,  to  restore 
them  practically  in  their  unity. 

This  is  the  psycho-physiological  principle  of  the  method. 

Before  deducing  its  applications  for  the  treatment  of  idiocy, 
we  must  see  how  it  may  be  made  available  for  its  prevention. 

Like  most  maladies  and  infirmities  idiocy  may,  to  a  great 
extent,  be  prevented. 

When  dependent  on  local  and  hereditary  causes,  the  pre- 
vention follows,  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  avoidance  of  such 
conditions.  Already,  in  the  Alps,  many  pregnant  women 
migrate  from  the  valleys  to  the  uplands ;  the  opening  of  routes 
in  these  long  secluded  localities  permits  their  population  to 
marry  outside  of  their  blood-relations,  thereby  sensibly  dimin- 
ishing cretinism  and  idiocy. 

But  idiocy  is  not  all  endemic  or  hereditary.  We  have  seen 
it  creep  out  from  the  couch  of  the  young,  of  the  healthy,  of 
the  talented,  as  well  as  from  that  of  the  lowly  or  of  the  vicious. 
Young  men  and  women  qualify  for  all  sorts  of  social  and 
scientific  attainments,  and  disqualify  themselves  for  the  task 
which  ranks  us  with  the  gods.  In  one  class,  the  privations 
are  suffered  particularly  by  girls  and  newly  married  couples ; 
in  other  classes  stimulants  of  all  kinds  are  used  nearly  from 
infancy,  instead  of  being  kept  as  the  solaces  of  old  age. 
Intellectual  or  business  excitement  has  taken  possession  of 
both  sexes ;  a  young  woman  with  child  has  to  contend  with 
social  difficulties,  as  if  she  were  not  engaged  in  a  labor  which 
requires  all  the  resources  of  her  constitution,  supposing  she 


6o  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

has  any.  These  exactions,  of  food  from  the  ill-fed,  of  strength 
from  the  weak,  of  innervation  from  the  enervated,  in  favor 
of  the  future  being,  do  not  seem  rational,  and  are  too  often 
followed  by  the  ruin  of  the  mother's  health,  and  by  the  moral 
or  physical  crippling  of  her  child.  How  much  more  sensible 
it  would  be  for  young  couples  to  try  to  live  according  to 
hygienic  rules,  to  keep  the  pregnant  woman  in  comfortable 
conditions,  without  anxiety,  with  an  abundance  of  substantial 
food,  with  air  for  two,  day  and  night,  and  with  plenty  of 
exercise,  sooner  than  to  act  as  if  relying  upon  the  wisdom 
of  the  embryo  to  feed  himself  out  of  no  food,  and  to  keep 
himself  unmoved  amidst  the  emotions  of  his  mother.  This 
is  not  to  say  that  idiocy  depends  exclusively  upon  voluntary 
circumstances;  some  accidents  may  be  prevented,  some  not. 
Hereditary  affections  and  nervous  disorders  transmissible  in 
some  mutable  form,  accessory  diseases  accompanying  preg- 
nancy and  destroying  the  powers  of  nutrition,  such  as  dis- 
ordered appetite  for  unnutritious  food  and  drink,  vomiting, 
costiveness,  etc.,  cannot  always  be  counteracted  by  pro- 
fessional interference;  but  in  such  cases  the  skill  to  correct 
disordered  functions,  to  prevent  steady  impressions  and  sudden 
shocks,  is  the  highest  attainment  of  our  art. 

The  new-born  infant  escapes  the  dangers  of  intro-uterine 
life,  to  enter  into  another  crisis  of  its  development.  The 
withering  of  the  cord,  and  the  maturing  of  the  breast,  declare 
the  new  relations  of  nutrition  between  mother  and  child;  but 
this  sudden  change  is  fraught  with  -danger.  To  this  change, 
and  to  the  transition  from  a  liquid  to  a  gaseous  medium, 
is  attributable  the  loss  of  substance,  of  weight,  and  of  caloric, 
suffered  by  the  child  in  the  first  week ;  deficiency  of  nutrition 
from  these  causes  producing  convulsions,  idiocy,  and  death. 
We  can  prevent  these  accidents  by  a  proper  control  over  the 
internal  and  external  means  of  keeping  up  the  warmth.  Be- 
sides, at  that  tim.e,  the  brain  is  soft,  almost  pulpy;  has  a 
reddish  tint  throughout,  without  well  marked  differences 
between  the  white  and  grey  substance,  nor  well  defined  cir- 
cumvolutions ;  the  nerves  only  being  firmer,  the  general  or 
tactile  sensibility  precedes  all  others.  Hence,  in  early  youth, 
and  particularly  at  the  time  when  the  body  of  the  new-born 
actually  loses  v/eight,  caloric,  and  substance,  if  it  takes  nour- 


Physiological  Education.  6i 

ishment,  this  is  mostly  applied  to  the  consolidation  and 
distinction  of  the  two  substances  composing  the  encephalon. 
But  if  this  nerve-food  is  not  timely  supplied  to  the  infant, 
it  becomes  idiotic,  epileptic,  paralytic,  or  hydrocephalous,  what- 
ever may  have  been  the  cause   of  the  deficiency  of  nutrition. 

This  effect  of  the  want  of  nutrition  is  not  peculiar  to  the 
nervous  system;  it  rules  the  growth  of  all  the  other  systems, 
and  develops  nearly  all  of  the  constitutional  affections  of 
childhood.  We  can  trace  the  beginning  of  diseases  of  the 
long  bones,  of  the  spine,  of  the  circulatory  and  respiratory 
apparatus,  etc.,  to  that  same  cause,  deficiency  of  nutrition 
at  the  very  time  when  each  of  these  organs  required  the  most 
effective  nourishment.  This  explains  why  each  of  these  con- 
stitutional alterations  must  be  expected  at  certain  periods  of 
life,  idiocy  at  first,  rickets,  phthisis  next,  etc.,  till  dementia 
and  paralysis  close  the  series.  Thus,  deficiency  of  nutrition 
bears  alternately  upon  the  apparatus  whose  growth  or  tem- 
porary activity  requires  the  most  nutriment.  This  law  traces 
our  duty  to  the  new-born  infant. 

The  health  of  the  mother,  her  labors,  inactivity,  food,  drink, 
aeration,  comfort,  happiness,  having  a  direct  bearing  upon 
the  state  of  her  milk,  and  her  milk  upon  the  nutrition  of  the 
infant,  call  our  attention  before  everything  else;  because, 
owing  to  the  want  of  expression  of  the  passive  little  being 
in  the  first  weeks  of  life,  irreparable  mischief  may  be  worked 
by  bad  food,  before  one  could  be  made  aware  of  it. 

Next  in  importance  comes  the  watching  of  the  deficient 
abilities  of  the  child,  and  particularly  the  distinction  of  their 
constitutional  and  external  causes;  many  infants  look  like 
idiots,  or  bid  fair  to  become  such,  who  are  only  crippled 
by  something  or  somebody,  and  many  idiots  continue  for 
months  their  marmot-like  life,  who  are  thought  only  dull 
babies. 

At  this  stage  of  life,  where  all  the  impotencies  of  babyhood 
do  not  differ  from  incapacitation  by  infirmities,  the  difference 
may  be  established  only  by  reference  to  the  age  appointed 
by  nature  for  the  evolution  of  each  function.  Among  the  first, 
extending  the  arm,  opening  the  hand,  grasping,  is  a  series; 
looking,  turning  the  head  upon  the  axis,  raising  the  spine  to 
the  sitting  posture,  is  another;  hearing  voices,  listening  to 


•62  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

catch  sounds,  reproducing  them  to  amuse  the  organs  of  audi- 
tion, is  another  of  the  endless  groups  of  capabilities  which 
spring  up,  one  after  another,  and  which  are  so  long  or  vainly 
expected  from  idiots. 

Who  could  watch  over  the  tardy  coming  of  these  functions 
better  than  a  mother,  if  she  were  timely  advised  by  a  compe- 
tent physician?  The  skill  of  the  latter  is  of  no  avail  without 
her  vigilance,  and  her  zeal  may  be  very  blind,  even  mis- 
chievous indeed  without  his  advice ;  stuttering,  squinting,  and 
all  sorts  of  bodily  defects,  besides  the  perpetuation  of  the 
worst  symptoms  of  early  idiocy,  are  too  often  due  to  the  want 
of  this  concerted  action  of  love  and  knowledge. 

As  soon  as  any  function  is  set  down  as  deficient  at  its  due 
time  of  development,  the  cause  must  be  sought  and  combated; 
if  external,  removed ;  if  seated  in  the  nervous  apparatus,  coun- 
teracted by  the  earliest  course  of  training  and  hygienic  meas- 
ures. The  arm  of  the  mother  or  nurse  becomes  a  swing  or  a 
supporter;  her  hand  a  monitor  or  a  compressor;  her  eye  a 
stimulant  or  a  director  of  the  distracted  look;  the  cradle  is 
converted  into  a  class-room,  gymnasium,  etc. 

If  the  features  of  idiocy  are  decidedly  marked,  the  mother 
must  often  visit  with  her  child  the  nearest  institution,  see 
what  is  done  there  to  remedy  similar  cases,  and  receive  the 
instructions  necessary  to  carry  on  the  same  treatment  at  home. 
If  this  prove  costly  at  first,  even  to  the  State  Institution,  it 
will  in  the  end  save  the  State  and  families  the  expense  of 
several  years  of  after-teaching,  besides  accomplishing  more 
fully  the  object  of  the  treatment. 

In  this  manner,  when  the  time  arrives  for  admission  into 
the  school,  the  child  feels  at  home  among  the  exercises,  pleased 
by  the  general  activity,  music,  and  amusement  of  the  place; 
has  no  resistance  nor  antipathies  to  what  it  has  seen  from 
infancy,  and  cannot  fall  at  its  entrance  into  the  position  of  a 
stranger,  subject  to  nostalgia  and  its  consequences. 

This  double  and  alternate  education  of  the  infant-idiot  at 
home  and  by  contact  with  the  school,  brings  us  closer  to  the 
method  of  physiological  training. 

The  child,  going  through  the  institution  at  first  on  the  arm 
of  its  mother,  soon  feels  the  influence  of  the  general  training, 
even  in  its  apparent  inattention,  and  is  thereby  better  pre- 


Physiological  Education.  63 

pared  to  be  individually  carried  through  the  same  movements. 
Home  again,  and  in  the  silence  of  privacy,  the  child's  attention 
will  be  more  easily  concentrated  upon  some  of  the  facts  or 
actions  whose  outlines  are  yet  faintly  delineated  in  its  sen- 
sorium,  at  the  same  time  that  its  resistance  to  fresh  contact 
is  lessened;  the  double  result  is  new  perception  and  increased 
spontaneity,  oscillatory  strides  from  the  general  to  the  special, 
and  vice  versa,  towards  the  completion  of  its  perceptive,  reflec- 
tive, and  spontaneous  faculties. 

These  alternate  reactions  of  the  perceptions  on  spontaneity, 
of  the  will  on  reflective  agencies,  is  the  modus  operandi  of  the 
physiological  process  of  education  for  idiots,  for  children,  for 
mankind.  They  take  place  in  the  terminal  loops  or  plexuses 
which  are  scattered  in  the  integuments  like  so  many  peripheric 
brains;  in  the  sensorial  and  motor  ganglia;  in  the  intellectual 
ganglia  or  hemispheres.  Through  the  conductors  of  motion 
and  sensation,  the  central  and  generalizing  organ  receives  the 
external  impulse,  and  transmits  its  orders  to  each  apparatus 
of  action. 

This  double  current  forms  a  functional  circle  which  cannot 
be  interrupted  without  being  destroyed.  Take  away  one  of 
these  currents,  and  instead  of  causing  a  complete  action,  we 
have  only  the  beginning  of  one.  Whether  images  are  sent 
from  acute  senses  to  an  encephalon  which  cannot  register,  com- 
pare or  classify  them,  or  whether  centrifugal  aspirations  can- 
not be  realized  by  dead  or  dead-like  apparatus  of  transmission 
and  contact;  in  both  cases,  opposite  as  they  are,  the  result 
is  the  same — isolation,  incapacitation.  So,  fine  senses  and 
good  muscular  development,  if  the  will  has  no  command  upon 
them,  cannot  respectively  feel  nor  do  anything  more  than 
if  they  were  paralyzed ;  and  leave  the  child  impotent,  with  all 
the  instruments  of  potency  less  the  central  one.  And  in  the 
same  manner,  an  active  encephalon  deprived  of  important 
means  of  communication  with  the  world,  or  of  means  of  sen- 
sorial analysis,  may  create  superficial  idiocy,  whether  the 
isolation  comes  from  general  paralysis,  or  from  the  loss  of 
one  sense  only,  or  from  the  loss  of  several. 

Now  let  teaching  do,  at  large  for  mankind,  what  infirmity 
does  for  idiots  and  their  congeners ;  let  perceptions  be  sunk 
in  a  central   organ  unprepared  to  generalize  and   fecundate 


64  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

them ;  or  let  the  generalizing  agent  be  sent,  through  its  spon- 
taneous impulses  to  external  organs  unprepared  for  movement 
or  for  the  correct  perception  of  feelings,  and  the  result  will 
be  at  least  a  lowering  of  human  capacity;  but  let  idiots  be 
taught  by  either  of  these  half  teachings,  through  one-half  only 
of  the  psycho-physiological  circulus,  and  you  may  well  set 
down  their  improvement  as  impossible,  since  in  this  wise  you 
want  to  improve  them  by  the  very  process  which  would  make 
them  idiots,  if  they  were  not  such  already.  This  cannot  be 
too  much  insisted  upon,  that  whatever  development  be  given 
to  the  sensorial  faculties,  the  reflective  and  spontaneous  must 
receive  a  corresponding  culture,  and  vice  versa. 

Exclusive  memory  exercises  do  not  actually  improve  idiots; 
rather  the  reverse:  they  impede  their  future  progress.  Better 
one  thing  thoroughly  known  than  a  hundred  only  remem- 
bered. Teaching  so  many  facts  is  not  so  fruitful  as  teaching 
how  to  find  the  relations  between  a  single  one  and  its  natural 
properties  and  connexions. 

Conversely,  protracted  tension  of  the  will  and  reason  upon 
unsubstantial  objects  and  purposes,  if  it  would  be  futile  in 
the  case  of  idiots,  does  favor  in  other  schools  the  production 
of  monomania  and  hallucinations,  even  endemically.  The 
avoidance  of  these  exclusive  practices,  reduced  even  into 
theory  by  certain  teachers,  will  insure  the  unity  of  training 
so  important  to  our  success. 

Therefore  the  teaching  of  a  geometrical  point  must  not 
make  us  forgetful  of  the  line  to  which  this  point  belongs; 
the  line,  of  the  body  it  limits;  the  body,  of  its  accessory 
properties;  the  properties,  of  the  possible  associations  of  the 
subject  under  consideration,  with  its  surroundings:  an  idea 
is  not  an  isolated  image  of  one  thing,  but  the  representation 
in  a  unit  of  all  the  facts  related  to  the  imaged  object. 

The  completeness  of  the  method  to  be  used  is  of  the  utmost 
importance,  and  must  be  enforced  as  well  in  regard  to  the 
object  of  the  teaching  as  to  the  unity  of  the  child.  But  before 
beginning  our  close  adaptation  of  the  whole  training  to  the 
whole  child,  we  must  make  sure  of  the  fitness  of  the  latter 
for  it.  We  must  not  put  an  idiot  to  work  or  to  study  before 
ascertaining  every  morning  his  condition.  A  friendly  look 
at  his  face  and  a  shake  of  the  hand,  a  patting  of  the  head, 


Physiological  Education.  65 

if  necessary  extended  to  the  temples  and  posterior  base  of  the 
cranium,  will  tell  if  anything  be  the  matter,  and  if  you  have 
to  extend  your  investigations  farther.  With  idiots  the  ques- 
tioning by  palpation  is  the  surest;  ask  the  different  organs, 
and  they  will  tell  you  how  the  child  feels,  better  than  himself, 
better  than  his  nurse.  We  must  not  permit  any  dejections 
to  go  unnoticed,  unless  we  want  at  some  time  dysentery  and 
the  like  to  run  wild  through  our  wards. 

The  same  attention  is  required  if  any  inflammation  of  the 
eyes  appears,  possible  initiator  to  purulent  conjunctivitis.  The 
spread  of  any  parasitic  disease  is  to  be  cut  short  with  the 
same  vigilance.  The  health  of  the  feet  and  hands  has  to  be 
often  ascertained,  particularly  in  winter. 

In  dressing  the  children  we  must  have  regard  not  only  to 
the  season,  but  mostly  to  the  sudden  changes  of  temperature, 
and  to  certain  idiosyncrasies.  Dress  them  as  you  like  in 
regard  to  fashion,  but  comfortably  and  easily  about  the  joints 
and  chest,  so  that  they  can  move  and  grow. 

We  must  not  send  a  child  to  study  or  duty  without  his 
having  taken  food.  The  staple  food  for  these  children  is  milk, 
bread,  eggs,  and  ripe,  red  fruits;  meat  once  a  day  is  enough. 
But  every  day  or  every  week  brings  new  demands  on  account 
of  changes  of  season  and  temperature,  of  personal  health, 
or  of  imminent  epidemics ;  and  also  because  variety  is  of 
itself  food. 

The  nutrition  of  idiots  is  to  be  attended  to  closely,  if  we 
do  not  want  to  see  them,  or  part  of  them,  decay. 

We  must  not  begin  their  day's  work  like  a  duty,  but  like 
a  pleasure,  with  walks,  sports,  music,  and  end  it  in  the  same 
manner;  so  that  if  we  have  not  made  them  perfectly  happ}^ 
through  our  daily  routine,  we  can  send  them  to  bed  cheerful. 

After  the  morning  music,  the  first  labors  are  those  in  which 
the  most  of  attention  may  be  exacted,  and  true  learning 
gained.  At  later  hours,  more  is  to  be  derived  from  excite- 
ment than  from  concentration  of  mind. 

When  teaching  a  new  object,  we  must  not  too  often  put 
our  point  forward,  but  on  the  contrary  put  it  behind  some- 
thing well  known,  as  a  corollary  to  what  was  previously 
acquired,  an  unavoidable  deduction,  an  of  course.  If  we  let 
the  child  feel  that  the  ground  is  new,  he  will  recoil;  if  we  do 


66  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

not,  he  will  think  himself  on  the  old  one,  and  go  ahead  without 
increased  diffidence. 

In  this  direction  there  is  a  mark  to  which  we  can  carry 
our  pupil  forward;  let  us  appreciate  it.  If  we  leave  him  below 
that  mark  he  loses  the  opportunity  to  reach  it,  perhaps  for 
ever,  dispositions  of  mind  never  coming  back  identical  in 
presence  of  the  same  facts ;  and  if  we  try  to  push  him  farther 
than  his  attention  can  support  him,  the  whole  acquisition 
may  fall  "  in  a  pie."  Therefore  when  any  tension  of  the 
muscles,  senses,  or  mind  has  attained  its  object,  let  us  remove 
the  pressure  gently,  for  fear  that  a  prolonged  tightness  would 
undo  the  deed  or  deface  the  impression  dearly  acquired. 

When  we  exact  from  a  child,  in  this  manner,  what  he  can 
only  do  with  the  help  of  our  physiological  artifices,  we  should 
study  his  features  and  see  that  he  is  not  overcome  instead 
of  being  raised  by  the  process ;  we  must  beware  of  protracting 
the  tension  till  his  countenance  shall  give  the  signs  of  mental 
depression,  as  knitted  brows,  blank  looks,  white  circle  around 
the  mouth,  dejected  posture;  if  we  have  been  so  far  unmindful 
in  our  eagerness,  let  us  hasten  to  take  him  off  gayly  to  some 
pleasant  exercises  or  music,  remembering  that  we  were  at 
fault. 

Though  the  idiot  has  much  to  learn,  new  things  and  studies 
must  be  dealt  out  sparingly  to  him,  taking  in  consideration 
for  the  nature  as  well  as  for  the  quantity  of  work  exacted, 
the  heat,  the  cold,  the  dampness,  all  external  reagents  on  the 
nervous  system.  Spring  and  fall  are  the  times  to  push  a 
child  forward;  winter  and  summer  to  inure  him  to  excesses 
of  temperature. 

Let  it  be  one  of  our  first  duties  to  correct  the  automatic 
motions,  and  supply  the  deficiencies  of  the  muscular  apparatus ; 
otherwise,  how  could  we  expect  to  ripen  a  crop  of  intellectual 
faculties  on  a  field  obstructed  by  disordered  functions. 

We  must  teach  every  day  the  nearest  thing  to  that  which 
each  child  knows  or  can  know. 

We  must  never  confide  to  automatic  memory  what  can  be 
learned  by  comparison,  nor  teach  a  thing  without  its  natural 
correlations  and  generalizations;  otherwise  we  give  a  false 
or  incomplete  idea,  or  none,  but  a  dry  notion  with  a  name ; 
what  enters  the  mind  alone,  dies  in  it  alone;  loneliness  does 


Physiological  Education.  67 

not  germinate  anything.  The  contact  of  two  perceptions  pro- 
duces an  idea;  the  contact  of  a  perception  with  an  idea  pro- 
duces a  deductive  idea ;  the  contact  of  two  or  more  ideas  with 
each  other  gives  rise  to  both  induction  and  deduction,  and 
ideas  of  an  abstract  order. 

Contrast  is  a  power;  children  will  understand,  and  do  by 
apposition  of  differences  what  they  could  not  by  single  pres- 
entation, or  by  apposition  of  similarities.  In  other  cases,  the 
reverse  proves  successful ;  similarity  is  a  power,  too. 

We  must  make  the  contrast  not  only  an  instrument  of  learn- 
ing, but  one  of  rest  and  repose.  To  that  effect,  things  dis- 
similar are  to  be  taught  in  apposition ;  an  exercise  through 
the  eye,  to  be  followed  by  one  through  the  fingers ;  sitting, 
by  standing;  attentive  silence,  by  emission  of  voice;  doing 
this  we  give  food  to  the  mind  as  well  as  rest  by  variety, 
if  our  variety  has  a  physiological  and  intellectual  meaning. 

Repetitions  please  children ;  as  rhythm  and  rhyme  are  the 
lullaby  of  nations  we  must  take  advantage  of  them  in  teach- 
ing the  speech  and  in  the  general  training. 

Training  is  understood  to  be  special  and  general. 

ist,  In  relation  to  the  matters  learned;  2d,  to  the  number 
of  children  taught;  they  must  alternate.  An  exercise  of 
analysis  is  followed  by  one  of  synthesis,  an  individual  teach- 
ing is  followed  by  a  group  teaching.  The  same  thing  has  to 
pass  by  the  double  process  of  teaching,  as  the  same  child 
has  to  pass  through  the  single  and  group  learning:  Everything 
taught  and  every  function  trained  by  impression  and  by  ex- 
pression. In  this  manner,  what  has  come  into  the  mind  has 
to  come  out  of  the  mind,  and  what  was  perceived  by  the 
attention  of  one  isolated  child,  has  to  be  expressed  through 
the  impulse  of  a  whole  group  by  those  composing  it.  The 
general  impulse  gives  a  better  comprehension  to  the  individual, 
the  individual  comprehension  gives  a  stronger  impulse  to  the 
spontaneity  of  the  groups. 

For  the  same  purpose  children  have  to  be  as  soon  as  prac- 
ticable taught  and  teachers  alternately ;  not  for  the  value  of 
what  they  teach  (though  children  often  make  children  under- 
stand better  than  we  can),  but  because  the  child  employed 
to  teach  another  learns  more  himself  than  his  would-be  pupil, 


68  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

as  well  upon  matters  of  fact  as  by  exercising  his  nascent 
power  of  command. 

Our  instruments  of  teaching  must  be  those  which  go 
directly  to  the  point.  In  view  of  that  necessity,  we  must  use 
object  pictures,  photographs,  cards,  patterns,  figures,  wax, 
clay,  scissors,  compasses,  glasses,  pencils,  colors,  even  books. 

Let  us  carry  all  our  exercises  through  pure  air,  and  never 
command  in-doors  what  can  be  accomplished  without. 

We  must  not  forget  to  create  gaiety  and  mirth  several  times 
a  day;  happiness  is  our  object  as  much,  nay,  more  than  prog- 
ress, and  children  will  not  be  sick  if  they  laugh. 

We  reserve  for  another  part  the  exposition  of  the  principles 
involved  in  the  moral  training;  it  would  be  more  philosophical 
to  emit  the  whole  of  them  at  once,  but  for  the  sake  of  clear- 
ness we  divide  once  more  in  theory  what  must  be  a  unit  in 
practice,  the  phj^siological  training. 

Training  and  education  begin  where  previous  functions  and 
acquirements  ceased.  The  beginning  of  the  treatment  of  each 
child  is  where  his  natural  progress  stood  still ;  so  many  children, 
so  many  beginnings.  For  every  function  or  capacity  the  start 
varies  as  much.  Such  a  child  uses  one  series  of  organs  to 
a  certain  extent,  and  other  series  to  a  lower  or  higher  point. 
One  child  is  forward  in  talking,  and  backward  in  the  use 
of  his  sight ;  another  forward  in  imitation,  and  backward  in 
comparison,  etc.,  etc.  From  these  discrepancies  in  the  range 
of  the  diverse  functions  in  different  individuals,  result  the 
necessity  of  presenting  the  means  and  instruments  employed 
in  improving  so  many  backward  functions,  as  if  all  the  anom- 
alies belonging  to  idiocy  and  its  congeners  could  really  be 
in  improving  so  many  backward  functions,  as  if  all  the  anoma- 
lies belonging  to  idiocy  and  its  congeners  could  really  be 
found  to  the  same  degree  in  all  idiots.  The  mind  of  the  reader 
can  easily  make  its  way  through  the  fallacies  of  this  unavoid- 
able generalization. 

Our  system  of  education  is  the  process  of  accumulating  in 
children  strength  and  knowledge ;  to  create  in  men  power  and 
goodness. 

The  first  want  of  a  people  and  of  an  individual  is  strength 
acquired  by  proper  training  of  their  muscular  S3^stem.  The 
nations  that  flourished  did  so  after  or  during  long  exertions. 


Physiological  Education.  69 

whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  the  clans  that  decayed  by  cretinism 
or  otherwise,  were  shut  up  in  inaccessible  valleys.  Of  all 
the  incapacities  of  idiocy,  none  are  so  striking  and  none  so 
detrimental  as  those  which  afifect  motion  and  locomotion; 
their  direct  effect  being  to  prevent  the  development  of  force, 
their  secondary  result  to  prevent  the  reaching  of  any  instru- 
ment of  knowledge. 

The  deficiencies  and  the  anomalies  of  motion  are  extremely 
varied  in  idiots,  from  nearly  absolute  immobility  to  the  ineffi- 
ciency of  the  extremity  of  the  fingers,  or  to  a  slight  swinging 
of  the  body  in  walk  or  station.  Both  deficiencies  and 
anomalies,  deep  or  superficial,  are  the  subjects  of  the  educa- 
tion of  the  muscular  system. 

(We  warn  the  reader,  for  the  last  time,  against  the  fallacy 
of  the  words  we  employ,  because  they  are  not  adequate  in 
comprehension  to  our  meaning.  Here,  for  instance,  it  is 
impossible  to  take  hold  of  the  muscular  apparatus  without 
acting  on  the  nerves,  bones,  etc.,  as  it  is  equally  impossible 
to  command  these  special  instruments  of  activity  without 
exercising  besides  a  reflex  action  on  the  intellect  and  on  the 
will.  Therefore  it  shall  be  understood  that  we  mean  only 
that  our  action  shall  be  mostly  aimed  at  one  set  of  organs — 
for  instance,  those  of  motility  now.  So  much  for  our  infirmity 
of  expression.) 

Our  Gymnasium  differs  from  the  ordinary  one  in  its  general 
object,  being  intended  to  create  an  equilibrium  of  the  func- 
tions, not  by  the  towering  of  the  muscular  above  the  other 
systems,  but,  on  the  contrary,  by  paying  more  attention  to 
the  nervous,  as  being  the  most  shattered  in  idiocy.  But  even 
with  these  reservations  in  favor  of  the  general  training,  we 
confide  mostly  in  the  exercises  borrowed  from  the  daily  labors 
and  amusements  common  to  all  children.  The  spade,  the 
wheelbarrow,  the  watering-pot,  the  bow,  the  wooden-horse, 
the  hammer,  the  ball,  are  greater  favorites  with  us  than  the 
general  gymnastics  whose  instruments  are  to  be  employed 
sparingly,  and  whose  tendencies  to  exaggeration  are  to  be 
avoided.  The  Grecians  were  using  it  to  excess,  for  which 
Plato  reprimands  them,  as  well  as  for  the  other  excesses  in 
over-cultivating  the  intellectual  faculties — the  former  making 


yo  Idiocy,  mid  Its  Treatment. 

prize-fighters,  the  latter  sophists.  Nothing  is  so  much  to  be 
discountenanced  as  this  one-sided  education. 

In  our  case  no  excuse  could  be  proffered  to  palliate  a  similar 
mistake,  because  we  aim  at  a  plain,  comprehensive,  harmonious 
training  of  the  whole  child.  Our  gymnastics,  in  its  generality, 
is  simple,  managed  with  few  instruments,  and  mostly  of  the 
kind  which  received,  several  years  after  it  was  adapted  to 
idiots,  the  pretty  name  of  Calisthenics,  under  which  it  entered 
the  fashionable  academies.  Our  special  gymnastics  is  by  far 
more  important,  on  account  of  its  adaptation  to  the  deficien- 
cies of  functions  and  of  organs,  by  the  correction  of  which  it 
touches  to  orthopedy,  and  to  orthophreny.  Though  the  in- 
struments of  both  these  gymnastics  are  few  and  unostenta- 
tious, whilst  our  intellectual  means  of  exercise  are  many, 
that  disproportion  is  right,  and  pleases  us  as  precisely  repre- 
senting the  proportion  of  the  elements  of  muscular  training 
necessary  for  our  main  object,  the  intellectualization  of  the 
muscles. 

The  absolute  or  complete  abolition  of  the  movements  of 
relation  dependent  on  the  absence  of  the  impulse  of  the 
encephalon,  and  leaving  to  the  idiot  only  the  involuntary  con- 
tractions of  organic  life,  dependent  on  good  spinal  and  sympa- 
thetic system,  must  not  be  hastily  attributed  to  paralysis.  No 
doubt  there  are  idiots  paralyzed,  but  their  immobility  is  more 
a  cause  than  an  effect  of  idiocy.  On  the  contrary,  the  in- 
capacity of  movement  here  considered  is  a  psycho-physiolog- 
ical phenomenon,  whose  incomplete  analogue  is  found  in  the 
condition  of  a  child  who,  having  been  kept  in  bed  for  months, 
tries  to  walk.  He  attempts  to  transmit  the  orders  of  his  will 
to  the  distant  organs  of  locomotion,  but  in  vain,  till  his  mother 
forwards  his  foot  and  teaches  the  nerves  and  muscles  the  lost 
art  of  walking.  The  idiot  does  not  learn  to  walk  so  fast  as 
this  convalescent  child,  for  several  reasons :  He  never  did 
walk ;  his  immobility  has  lasted  all  his  life  instead  of  a  few 
months,  and  we  must  create  in  him  the  desire  that  he  never 
had  of  walking;  and  second,  his  will,  far  from  being  ready 
to  command  anything,  has  never  yet  suspected  nor  tried  its 
wonderful  powers. 

Infantile  paralysis,  even  complicated  with  extensive  con- 
tractures and  chorea,  as  it  is  often,  is  not  necessarily  beyond 


Physiological  Education.  71 

the  resources  of  our  art.  As  means  of  treatment  we  would 
suggest  general  and  special  nutrition  of  the  affected  limbs, 
general  and  special  excitors  of  heat  and  electricity,  general 
and  special  gymnastics,  sea-bathing,  shampooing,  kneading 
the  parts,  commanding,  exacting  the  movements,  and  a  few 
select  medicinal  agents  unnecessary  to  suggest  to  confreres. 

We  meet  more  frequently  with  the  partial  loss  of  movement 
expressed  by  the  fixedness  of  the  child  where  and  as  he  is 
placed,  standing,  lying,  seated  any  way,  or  by  the  impossi- 
bility of  his  hands  taking  hold  of  anything,  even  carrying 
food  to  the  mouth;  he  is  immovable  of  his  own  will,  movable 
only  by  another's  as  by  an  external  spring. 

This  relative  immovability  of  the  idiot,  of  the  demented,  too, 
the  result  of  inertia,  has  no  parentage  whatever  with  the 
immobility  by  which  a  man  or  an  animal  assembles  his  forces 
to  throw  them  into  action ;  this  is  a  positive,  the  other  a 
negative  attitude.  From  positive  immobility  springs  an  active 
determination ;  in  negative  immovability  resides  the  power  to 
nearly  neutralize  any  external  inducement  or  any  internal 
motive  to  action.  This  immovability  is  therefore  the  first 
expression  we  meet  with  of  the  radical  elements  of  idiocy, 
the  negative  will.  Henceforth  we  shall  find  many  and  the 
most  varied  incapacities,  all  doubled,  made  nearly  indomitable 
by  the  silent  protean  "  I  will  not "  of  the  negative  will.  Im- 
possible now  to  forget  it,  and  whenever  found  it  has  to  be 
treated,  as  we  will  do  presently,  where  it  would  perpetuate, 
with  incapacity  of  motion,  the  whole  train  of  idiocy. 

But  we  are  often  prevented  from  at  once  overcoming  this 
obstacle  by  the  interposition  of  another  already  mentioned, 
under  the  head  of  automatic,  mechanical  or  spasmodic  motions. 
As  long  as  these  motions  exist  with  or  without  negative 
immobility  of  the  rest  of  the  body,  we  cannot  expect  to  see 
the  child  improve  in  willed  action  nor  in  active  immobility; 
therefore  it  is  our  duty  to  try  to  overcome  it  all  at  once 
when  we  can,  or  as  soon  as  possible. 

These  anomalous  movements  have  their  seat,  not  always, 
but  mostly  in  the  wrist  and  fingers.  We  have  described  their 
various  characters,  and  shall  say  no  more  here  than  is  neces- 
sary to  the  rationale  of  their  treatment.  In  automatic  move- 
ments, the  child  uses  one  part  of  himself,  one  finger  or  one 


"72,  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

eye,  as  if  it  were  an  automaton  whose  recurrent  movements 
produced  his  beatitude.  In  mechanical  movements  the  child 
uses,  besides  paper,  thread,  metals,  anything  whose  breaking, 
touching,  ringing,  pleases  exclusively  one  of  his  senses ;  not 
the  best — on  the  contrary,  the  most  diseased.  In  spasmodic 
movements  the  child  has  no  object,  or  if  he  has  any,  such 
as  striking  something  or  at  somebody,  it  is  prompted  by  a 
blind,  sickly  impulse. 

Each  of  these  movements  is  best  combated  by  exercises 
which  offer  the  strongest  contrast  to  the  bad  habit.  Autom- 
atism is  best  done  away  with  by  constant  employment  of 
the  general  forces ;  mechanism,  by  the  intelligent  occupation 
of  the  delinquent  parts  and  the  avoidance  of  the  things  worked 
at  mechanically ;  spasmodism,  by  raising  obstacles,  the  painful 
contact  of  which  will  cause  recollections  sufficient  to  prevent 
its  recurrence.  But  if  each  of  these  disorders  of  contractility 
recedes  before  the  employment  of  particular  means,  they  dis- 
appear only  under  its  steady  continuance  corroborated  by  the 
long  application  of  moral  training.  Nevertheless,  we  must 
expect,  and  may  reasonably  promise  to  cure  the  mechanical 
sooner  than  the  automatic  or  spasmodic  motions:  the  latter 
being  generally  subordinate  to  an  accessory  disease,  variation 
cf  the  choreic  type. 

Happily  the  exercises  undertaken  in  view  of  destroying  the 
disordered  motions,  may  be  at  the  same  time  calculated  to 
promote  willed  immobility  and  orderly  movements ;  conse- 
quently, both  objects  may  be  attained  at  once,  and  described 
at  the  same  time. 

Setting  aside  these  muscular  disorders  we  find  ourselves 
in  presence  of  the  whole  cortege  of  muscular  incapacities  in- 
cumbent on  idiocy,  every  one  of  them  presenting  its  claim 
to  our  care  as  foremost.  Attending  to  one  would  be  as  neglect- 
ing the  others,  or  like  treating  one  symptom  to  the  exclusion 
of  others,  disregarding  the  disease  itself  in  its  unity.  In  our 
case,  for  instance,  every  particular  incapacity  of  the  legs, 
fingers,  etc.,  is  subordinate  to  the  impotence  of  the  general 
activity;  we  will  not,  therefore,  pause  on  the  threshold  to 
look  at  the  inefficiency  of  a  single  part,  but  consider  the 
incapacity  of  the  whole  motor  function. 


Physiological  Education.  73 

Muscular  activity  is  a  function  accomplished  by  the  con- 
traction and  relaxation  of  the  muscular  elements;  movement 
taking  its  fulcrum  in  immobility.  Therefore,  before  and  simul- 
taneously with,  directing  the  training  towards  the  acquisition 
of  some  special  movement,  we  must  accumulate  its  greater 
energy  in  view  of  the  concentration  of  activity  into  positive 
immobility,  wherefrom  all  action  springs.  Immobility  is 
taught  in  various  attitudes — standing,  sitting,  reclining  one 
way  or  another,  on  some  gymnatsic  apparatus,  with  the  rifle, 
the  dumb-bells,  the  balancing-pole,  etc.,  according  to  the  ob- 
stacles which  are  to  be  encountered,  and  the  various  stages 
of  the  training;  example: 

If  the  immobility  of  the  whole  child  cannot  be  enforced  at 
once,  we  may  seat  him  before  us,  half  mastering  his  legs 
between  our  knees,  concentrate  all  our  attention  upon  the 
hands,  and  eventually  upon  the  one  most  affected.  To  accom- 
plish our  object  we  put  the  quietest  hand  on  the  corresponding 
knee,  whilst  we  load  the  delinquent  hand  with  a  heavy  dumb- 
bell. Useless  to  say  that  he  does  not  take  hold  of  it  and 
tries  to  disengage  his  hand ;  but  our  fingers  keep  his  so  bound 
around  the  neck  of  the  dumb-bell  that  he  does  not  succeed. 
On  the  contrary,  we  take  care  to  let  the  weight  fall  more  on 
his  hand  than  on  ours;  if  he  does  not  carry  it,  he  supports 
it  at  least.  Supporting  the  burden,  the  more  he  moves  to 
remove  it  the  more  he  feels  it;  and  partly  to  escape  the  in- 
crease of  the  burden,  partly  by  fatigue,  his  loaded  hand 
becomes  still ;  that  stillness  was  precisely  our  object. 

When  we  find  that  hand  temporarily  subdued,  we  relieve 
it  from  the  dumb-bell,  and  venture  to  set  it  free  opposite  the 
other  hand,  and  to  maintain  it  motionless  by  the  combined 
action  of  our  voice,  looks,  and  gesture.  After  a  few  such 
sessions  of  alternate  loading  and  resting  we  generally  succeed 
in  keeping  the  hand  quiet  enough  for  the  simplest  employ- 
ment; if  not,  by  looking  carefully,  we  will  find  that  the 
remaining  impediment  to  the  usefulness  of  the  limb  lies  in 
some  extra  delicacy  of  the  sense  of  touch,  which  happily 
may  be  blunted  by  the  use  of  the  balancing-pole  and  a  series 
of  exercises  of  resistance ;  but  this  is  part  of  the  sensorial 
training.  The  case  presented  here  is  one  in  which  partial 
immobility  was  the   prominent  aim;   conversely  in   another 


74  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

case,  immobility  shall  be  secondary,  and  movement  the  prin- 
cipal object,  as  when  we  keep  the  whole  body  quite  motion- 
less to  concentrate  the  attention  upon  delicate  exercises  of  a 
single  part.  But  we  cannot  forget  that  our  final  object  is  to 
teach  complete  immobility;  and  to  come  to  it  no  pains,  no 
time  must  be  spared,  because  our  reward  will  be  the  harmony 
and  usefulness  of  all  the  subsequent  movements. 

As  immobility  is  in  nature  the  fulcrum  of  movement,  so  in 
our  training  it  will  precede  and  close  every  exercise,  and 
serve  as  transition  and  as  repose  between  the  various  modes 
of  active  training;  so,  at  this  very  juncture,  the  child  will  be 
submitted  simultaneously  to  passive  exercises,  to  intrinsic  and 
relative  immobility  and  to  movements  necessary  to  learn  walk- 
ing, all  of  them  transitions  and  reposes  coming  alternately. 

If  we  take  the  child  so  low  that  he  cannot  and  will  not 
move,  seated  like  an  inert  mass  upon  his  chair,  we  must 
move  him  ourselves.  To  that  effect  we  employ  instruments 
of  passive  exercise,  which  act  on  activity  nearly  like  personal 
impulses.  The  legs  do  not  bend,  we  make  them  yield  under 
the  elasticity  of  a  baby-jumper;  the  feet  do  not  come  forward 
for  the  walk,  let  them  encounter  with  the  regularity  of  a 
walk  a  spring-board,  which  receives  and  sends  them  back 
like  an  intelligent,  indefatigable  ground  would  do.  Kneading 
the  muscles,  handling  the  articulations,  moving  with  the  floor 
of  a  tread-mill,  and  like  appliances,  will  give  the  pupil  the 
muscular  strength  to  walk ;  but  he  will  not  walk  yet,  and 
we  make  him  resume  in  immobility  the  seated  posture  a  little 
longer. 

But,  after  all  our  passive  exercises,  he  cannot  yet  stand 
erect  and  ready  for  a  walk  on  a  level  floor.  Then  we  raise 
him  on  two  blocks  or  steps  as  narrow  as  his  feet,  and  even 
we  let  him  fall,  being  at  hand  to  prevent  an  injury,  but  not 
to  blunt  the  emotion,  and  to  restore  him,  if  needed,  to  his 
up-isolation.  There  he  must  stand  and  stand  firmly  too, 
having  to  react  with  an  energy  unknown  to  himself  against 
the  vacuum  around,  which  invites  him  to  a  fall.  To  resist 
the  attraction  of  the  void,  he  must  strain  his  muscles  in 
readiness  for  any  emergency ;  he  is  anxious,  he  does  not  know 
exactly  why,  nor  what  to  do,  nor  what  not  to  do;  but  his 
strength  is  gathered,  and  if  we  have  in  front  of  him  some 


Physiological  Education.  75 

other  steps,  and  if  we  help  him  a  little  with  our  hand  or 
finger  at  first,  he  will  try,  in  the  prospect  of  escaping  the 
isolation,  to  pass  one  foot  on  the  next  step,  on  another,  and 
on  another,  anxious,  crying,  but  walking  in  fact  for  the  first 
time.  Left  on  a  floor,  he  would  have  slid  his  feet  very  likely, 
but  not  walked  all  his  life.  He  walks  now,  but  with  a  swing- 
ing of  the  body,  owing  to  the  incapacity  of  the  hands. 

Prior  to  any  education,  the  hands  hang  like  impediments, 
if  not  brandished  upwards  by  automatism,  impressing  their 
disharmony  upon  the  rest  of  the  body.  This  being  almost 
always  the  case  with  our  children,  we  cannot  improve  their 
walk  or  station  without  improving  their  hands  and  arms,  at 
least  as  instruments  of  equilibrium.  Here,  once  more,  we 
must  do  two  things  at  a  time  if  we  want  to  succeed  in  one. 
This  improvement  of  the  hands  and  arms  as  adjuvants  to 
the  general  equilibrium  of  the  body,  is  accomplished  by  the 
exercises  which  improve  them  for  their  direct  functions,  and 
which  will  be  treated  of  hereafter.  When  this  is  done,  we 
have  brought  these  organs  to  the  fulfilment  of  their  simplest 
functions,  and  we  are  now  called  to  bring  the  function  to 
the  point  where  it  becomes  a  capacity,  being  governed  by 
comparisons  and  reasonings. 

When  both  walk  and  equilibrium  are  acquired,  but  im- 
perfectly, the  movements  of  progression  are  yet  found  counter- 
acted by  lateral  swinging,  which  gives  to  the  walk  of  an 
idiot  its  peculiar  character;  this  is  the  point  where  we  find 
the  majority  of  them;  this  is  the  walk  which  bespeaks  idiocy; 
this  betraying  incapacity  deserves  and  costs  a  great  deal  of 
attention.  The  walk  of  the  legs  and  the  equilibrium  through 
the  arms  have  to  undergo  corrections  alternately,  alone  and 
together;  one  first  and  foremost  to-day,  the  other  preeminently 
to-morrow.  Here  two  kinds  of  exercises  are  indicated :  first, 
those  which  bear  upon  the  legs,  and  those  that  bear  upon  the 
arms ;  secondly,  those  that  harmonize  the  complete  functions. 
Among  the  first  acting  on  the  legs  are  the  stairs  of  various 
grades,  and  the  horizontal  ladder  between  the  rounds  of  which 
the  child  has  to  walk.  Acting  on  the  arms  are  the  dumb-bells, 
the  Swedish  or  other  clubs,  and  the  various  extensions  of  the 
arm,  which  is  of  itself  a  natural  balancing-pole.  The  second 
is  composed  of  the  aggregation  on  a  small  space,  like  a  room 


y()  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

or  a  piece  of  shaded  turf,  of  all  the  planes,  horizontal,  inclined 
in  the  four  directions,  abruptly  cut,  rough,  stony,  slippery, 
narrow,  etc.,  which  could  present  themselves  as  ordinary  im- 
pediments to  regular  progression.  The  child  must  go  through 
these  difficulties  with  or  without  dumb-bells,  steadily  com- 
manded, or  urged  by  the  excitement  of  music. 

Besides,  rooms  are  to  be  extemporaneously  prepared,  in 
which  we  have  foot-prints  or  forms  spread  on  the  floor;  some 
near,  some  far  apart;  some  with  the  point  turned  in,  and 
some  out;  winding  in  some  unexpected  way,  that  the  child 
has  to  follow,  covering  exactly  with  his  feet  the  forms  spread 
before  him.  The  act  of  directing  each  foot  on  each  form  is 
one  of  the  best  exercises  for  limbs  which  have  previously 
escaped  all  control ;  but  what  a  superior  exercise  it  is  for 
the  head  above,  which  has  never  suspected  its  regulating 
power :  to  walk  among  so  many  difficulties  is  to  think. 

A  child  has  to  go  through  many  impediments  of  the  kind, 
some  easy  enough,  some  difficult  to  overcome,  representing 
not  only  to  the  legs,  but  to  the  mind,  so  many  intellectual 
problems,  so  that  to  go  through  this  series  of  obstacles,  is 
to  go  through  a  complete  practical  treatise  on  the  physiology 
of  walking  and  standing.  When  the  pupil  has  overcome  indi- 
vidually these  difficulties,  with  all  his  attention  helped  by  all 
the  energy  of  the  teacher,  he  may  be  allowed  to  repeat  these 
lessons,  but  not  by  memory  alone.  He  is  to  be  thrown  in 
a  stream  of  children  who  execute  the  same  exercises  on  a 
large  scale,  with  the  excitement  of  example  and  music;  and 
the  previous  tears  are  dried,  tumbles  are  laughed  at,  torpor 
disappears  before  emulation,  timorousness  before  charming 
little  braveries ;  the  first  rays  of  promise  have  pierced  through 
the  darkness  of  idiocy.  These  children  could  not  move  of  late, 
and  to-day  they  are  in  their  first  well-earned  perspiration; 
do  not  let  them  catch  cold,  particularly  in  the  moral  sense. 

Now  our  pupil  can  stand,  walk,  and  move,  to  a  certain 
extent  in  conformity  with  the  physiology  of  his  organs,  pro- 
vided he  is  v/illing  to  do  it.  But  no;  he  does  these  things 
when  compelled  or  bidden,  and  almost  never  of  his  own  im- 
pulse. Here,  consequently,  we  see  laid  bare  in  him  the  antag- 
onism between  his  negative  or  collapsed  will,  and  the  synergic 
wull  wherefrom  all  action  derives.    This  part  of  the  education 


Physiological  Education.  yy 

is  exposed  in  the  moral  training,  and  cannot  be  explained 
over  each  time  that  it  is  an  adjuvant  to  any  special  exercise. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  that  as  long  as  his  will  fails  him,  our  own 
will  must  take  its  place  and  carry  him  through  walks  and 
other  performances  of  muscular  activity. 

To  resume  this  period,  all  that  belongs  to  the  function  of 
locomotion  requires  to  be  treated  with  the  greatest  attention, 
and  subjected  to  the  minutest  analysis,  as  hardly  second  in 
importance  to  the  functions  of  the  upper  extremity,  for  the 
steadiness  of  the  foot  is  the  basis  of  the  steadiness  of  the 
body  and  of  the  accuracy  of  the  hand.  The  same  care  should 
precede  and  accompany  our  efforts  at  educating  the   latter. 

When  we  come  to  consider  the  hand  in  idiots  as  an  instru- 
ment of  function,  we  are  not  more  struck  with  its  physiolog- 
ical disorders  or  deficiencies  than  with  the  almost  universal 
anomalies  of  the  organ;  hands  too  short  and  clumsy,  or 
spindle-shaped;  fingers  truncated,  with  unfinished  nails,  or 
thin  and  glossy,  like  quills,  with  pearly  little  nails;  articula- 
tions so  stiff  that  they  can  hardly  be  moved,  or  so  loose  that 
they  cannot  be(  fixed ;  tissues  bloodless  or  darkened  with  stag- 
nant blood ;  and  there  are  so  few  exceptions  to  these  extremes 
that  we  cannot  avoid  confessing  the  marvelous  harmony  of 
both  physiological  and  organic  disorders.  This  hand,  stiff 
or  relaxed,  shaken  with  automatism  or  soaked  in  saliva,  must 
be  constantly  present  to  our  sight,  as  it  will  become  hence- 
forth an  object  of  solicitude  and  study. 

If  any  part  of  us  challenges  a  definition  it  is  the  hand,  its 
excellences  being  so  many  that  a  single  definition  cannot 
comprehend  them  all.  The  definition  of  De  Blainville,  "  a 
compass  with  five  branches,"  justly  elicits  the  admiration  of 
the  geometrician;  ours,  not  so  dazzling,  will  come  nearer  to 
our  object — the  hand  is  the  organ  of  prehension.  Its  inca- 
pacity puts  a  barrier  between  the  idiot  and  everything  to 
be  acquired.  Without  further  explanation,  we  will  try  to 
carry  the  hand  from  its  incapacity  in  idiocy  to  its  full  capacity 
when  improved  by  education.  But  this  last  view  of  the  hand 
is  too  broad  yet;  and  we  shall  be  contented  for  the  present 
with  improving  its  powers  only  of  prehension. 

When  we  say  prehension,  we  mean  the  complex  action  of 
taking,  keeping,  losing  hold  ;  otherwise,  to  seize,  hold,  and  to 


78  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

let  go:  those  three  terms  are  the  beginning,  the  object,  and 
the  end  of  the  act  of  prehension.  This  act,  so  simple  for 
us  in  its  trilogy,  is  either  impossible  to  or  incidentally  per- 
formed by  the  idiot.  It  requires  for  its  mere  material  accom- 
plishment the  concourse  of  contractile  nervous  and  willed 
functions.  This  concourse,  far  above  the  understanding  of 
many  men,  is  certainly  above  the  average  ability  of  our 
pupils,  who,  far  from  entering  willingly,  as  the  occasion  offers, 
into  new  contacts,  find  in  themselves  more  energy  to  avoid 
than  would  be  necessary  to  meet  them.  Considering  the 
gravity  of  this  infirmity,  as  shutting  the  being  out  from  any 
intercourse  and  creating  the  most  positive  isolation,  the  task 
of  teaching  prehension  can  never  be  commenced  too  soon. 
Even  the  impossibility  of  standing  on  the  feet  must  not  be 
a  cause  to  delay  the  improvement  of  the  hands,  since  we  see 
babies  seize  with  their  contracted  fingers  before  they  can 
use  their  feet  to  stand. 

When  the  idiot  cannot,  or  will  not,  use  his  hands,  he  is 
put  in  front  of  an  inclined  ladder,  his  feet  on  a  round,  his 
hands  on  another,  which  generally  he  will  not  grasp.  Sup- 
posing the  worst  to  be  the  case  the  child's  equilibrium  is  soon 
lost;  he  falls  as  low  as  the  teacher  thinks  proper,  since  he 
has  a  good  hold  of  him  by  the  ring  of  his  gymnastic  belt. 
Then  he  replaces  the  child  on  the  ladder  and  allows  him 
again  to  fall,  till  the  child,  understanding  better,  and  feeling 
where  more  comfort  may  be  found,  holds  on  with  his  hands. 
If  he  protracts  his  resistance  too  long  (and  it  goes  too  far 
if  protracted  farther  than  the  time  required  to  get  acquainted 
with  the  various  parts  of  the  apparatus),  a  stop  may  be  put 
to  it  by  transferring  the  child  to  the  perpendicular  ladder, 
he  being  on  one  side,  the  teacher  on  the  other,  and  a  sufficient 
pressure  exerted  by  the  teacher's  hands  upon  those  of  the 
child  to  prevent  his  throwing  himself  down,  and  to  make 
him  support  his  own  weight. 

When  this,  which  cannot  yet  be  called  prehension,  is  ac- 
complished without  too  much  of  struggle,  the  child  is  put 
behind  the  inclined  ladder  and  made  to  grasp  one  of  the 
highest  rounds ;  his  teacher  standing  in  front  of  the  same, 
presses  his  hands  with  his  own  to  make  sure  that  they  will 
not  let  go.    A  reliable  hold  being  had  in  this  way,  the  teacher 


Physiological  Education.  70 

passes  one  foot  behind  the  ladder,  with  which  he  pushes  out 
the  feet  of  the  child  from  the  round  supporting  them.  Against 
this  the  child  protests,  and  to  diminish  the  pressure  on  his 
hands,  tries  to  regain  with  his  feet  the  lost  round  from  which 
the  teacher  keeps  them  away;  the  more  spirited  is  the  contest, 
the  more  promising  is  the  result. 

Nevertheless,  long  before  exhaustion  could  ensue,  the 
teacher  takes  away  one  of  his  own  hands,  and  passes  it  rapidly 
on  the  other  side  of  the  ladder  where  it  finds  the  hand  of 
the  child  loosened  and  moving  about,  not  knowing  what  to 
do  with  itself.  What  to  do,  is  to  take  hold  of  the  next  lower 
round.  The  hand  is  directed  to  it.  This  new  hold  is  not 
as  heavy  as  the  first  one,  and  ofifering  a  sort  of  security  and 
repose,  the  child  takes  it;  if  not,  some  assistant  holds  his 
hand  upon  it,  till  the  teacher  can  secure  it  himself.  Then  the 
other  hand  of  the  teacher  lets  the  other  hand  of  the  child 
go  in  the  same  manner,  and  makes  it  take  a  new  and  lower 
hold,  in  the  way  already  described.  So  child  and  teacher 
descend  slowly  the  ladder,  the  pressure  of  one  supplying  and 
teaching  prehension  to  the  other,  the  weight  of  the  child 
behind,  the  direction  of  the  teacher  in  front,  the  pressure 
on  the  hands  above,  the  repulse  of  the  feet  below,  and  lower 
down  the  fear  of  a  fall;  such  are  the  combined  inducements 
to  an  early  though  unwilled  prehension.  Such  and  similar 
means  will  soon  render  a  child  capable  of  grasping  at  some- 
thing, at  least  to  prevent  a  fall. 

This  frightened  grasp  must  be  instantly  used  to  take  hold 
of,  and  carry  things,  for  a  less  instinctive  purpose;  because 
when  a  function  has  been  exercised  for  some  time  without 
object,  the  child  has  received  from  it  an  impression  exclusive 
of  any  attribute  and  usage;  it  is  not  only  for  him  a  useless 
function,  but  one  whose  later  intellectualization  becomes  next 
to  impossible.  For  this  practical  consideration,  as  soon  as  a 
function  begins  to  be  accomplished  mechanically,  we  set  it  in 
action  for  purposes  and  objects  more  and  more  intellectual, 
trying  to  leave  no  gap  in  the  series  of  progress  till  the  function 
is  thoroughly  elevated  to  the  rank  of  a  capacity.  Now  for 
the  application  of  this  principle  to  our  present  case.  The 
child  comes  from  behind  the  ladder  where  he  began,  under 
the   uniform    pressure   of  our  hands,   to   exercise   the    same 


So  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

pressure  with  his  own  against  the  rounds,  and  to  seize  or 
prehend,  without  much  knowing  why,  unless  for  fear  of  a  fall. 
We  study  him  after  coming  from  that  ladder;  he  is  seated, 
or  standing,  or  sitting  piteously  enough,  looking  at  his  hands 
slightly  bruised,  and  heated  by  the  process  they  have  gone 
through.  Do  we  intend  to  leave  him  there  under  such  an 
impression?  If  we  do,  he  will  present  more  resistance  to 
our  next  trial,  and  will  not  be  blamable  for  it;  for  so  far, 
we  have  taught  him  less  how  to  prehend  with  his  hands  than 
how  much  to  apprehend  with  his  mind  instructed  by  the  sight 
and  touch,  the  next  similar  painful  contact ;  in  fact,  we  have 
created  less  positive  power  than  negative  resistance  to  the 
series  of  m^anual  experiments  in  which  he  was  entering.  On 
the  contrary,  on  taking  our  child  down  from  the  ladder  we 
do  not  leave  him  time  to  look  at  his  hands,  but  extending 
them  horizontally,  we  put  on  each  a  bright  apple.  He,  partly 
to  feel  the  coolness  on  all  the  burning  surfaces,  partly  not 
to  let  the  apples  fall,  will  contract  his  fingers  and  get  a 
circular,  equable,  willed  prehension  of  them ;  quite  a  progress 
on  the  passive  contraction  of  the  hands  on  the  ladder's  round. 
The  apples  are  used  when  they  can  be  had.  In  summer  large 
balls  of  crystal  would  be  cooler  and  more  pleasant  if  possible. 
The  fall  of  currants,  grapes,  or  cherries  in  the  hand  would 
produce  a  similar  derivation  of  feeling  by  contrast;  circum- 
stances dictate  the  choice  of  these  means.  As  for  the  object, 
pleasure  confirms  the  first  consciousness  of  prehension  gotten 
by  force,  and  opens  the  organ  to  any  unexpected  perceptions ; 
preparing  the  hand,  so  to  speak,  to  think  and  to  foresee  for 
itself. 

Now  that  we  have  obtained  from  the  ladder  the  good  it 
can  give  in  the  way  of  creating  the  grasp  and  of  forcing  to 
strenuous  or  lasting  prehension,  we  may  as  well  warn  against 
its  inconvenience  when  employed  too  long  or  too  exclusively. 
If  used  to  excess,  it  elevates  or  rounds  the  shoulders ;  it 
stiffens  the  joints,  particularly  the  small  ones ;  and  unfits  the 
hand  for  light  and  quick  work.  Therefore,  to  strengthen  the 
prehensive  power  we  must  use,  concurrently  with  the  ladder, 
some  other  exercise,  such  as  the  balancing-pole,  whose  action 
is  so  rapid,  and  may  be  rendered  quite  energetic.  But  to  react 
against  any  stiffness  produced  by  the  ladder,  when  the  child 


Physiological  Education.  8i 

comes  to  it,  we  must  put  him  to  some  brisk  exercise  of  the 
hands  like  those  described  farther  on,  to  promote  the  faculty 
of  imitation.  From  a  heavy  prehension,  the  child  must  pass 
to  a  light  one;  from  a  long  one  to  a  short  one;  and  we  must 
remember  and  apply  the  principle,  to  teach  the  prehension 
of  bodies  of  every  form  and  weight  in  its  three  modes — 
seizing,  keeping  hold  of,  and  letting  go. 

The  hand  is  to  be  trained  for  years  in  these  abilities,  not 
so  much  with  extraordinary  apparatuses  as  with  things  ordi- 
narily used  in  daily  life.  This  training  transforms  in  due 
season  part  of  formal  prehension  into  easy  handling.  As  this 
extension  of  ability  of  the  hand  comes  little  by  little,  its 
importance  may  be  overlooked,  and  even  its  acquisition 
neglected ;  but  this  ignorant  neglect  would  cost,  after  a  while, 
an  immense  range  of  capacity;  let  us  see. 

We  prehend  everything  about  in  the  same  manner,  but  we 
certainly  handle  everything  in  a  special  manner,  a  glass,  an 
axe,  a  pen,  a  spade,  etc, ;  prehension  is  more  physical,  handling 
more  intellectual ;  prehending  done  passively  has  only  one 
object,  obedience;  or  done  actively,  is  for  the  direct  use  of 
the  child;  but  handling  is,  we  may  say,  always  a  willed 
action  having  reference  to  things,  to  persons,  to  feelings,  and 
to  combinations  of  these  innumerable. 

As  soon  as  an  idiot  begins  to  prehend  and  to  handle,  he 
must  be  made  to  work.  When  we  impose  this  rule  we  know 
what  obstacles  are  to  be  encountered.  His  hand  is  clumsy 
and  weak  yet,  his  movements  have  no  regularity  nor  steadi- 
ness, his  mind  does  not  ofifer  to  the  organ  of  execution  any 
object  worth  doing,  and  what  he  begins  under  our  orders 
he  drops  through  unwillingness.  Even  when  his  will  begins 
to  harmonize  with  ours  in  any  undertaking,  his  synergy  is 
soon  exhausted,  and  as  a  sign  of  his  weakness  we  may  see 
his  forehead  or  hand  becoming  covered  with  heavy  drops  of 
perspiration  at  the  beginning  of  a  thought  or  of  an  action. 
This  must  not  deter  us  from  our  final  object;  the  more  diffi- 
cult it  is,  the  sooner  and  the  oftener  must  we  go  at  it ;  the 
simplest  work,  the  easiest  and  lightest  thing  done  steadily 
by  repetition  or  imitation,  is  better  than  nothing;  the  girl 
who  begins  to  wipe  the  dishes,  the  boy  who  picks  up  the 
6 


82  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

stones  in  the  field,  are  above  all  helping  to  save  themselves 
from  the  horrors  of  idiocy. 

The  hand  is  the  best  servant  of  man ;  the  best  instrument 
of  work ;  the  best  translator  of  thoughts ;  the  most  skillful 
hand  is  yet,  in  respect  to  certain  realizations,  as  it  were 
idiotic;  our  own  hand  shrivels  before  we  suspect  the  thousands 
of  ideas  which  it  might  realize. 

But  teaching  the  idiot's  hands  to  work  is  different  from 
commanding  ordinary  ones.  The  prehension  and  the  easy 
handling  of  objects  effect  a  few  labors;  a  third  element  is  to 
be  introduced,  the  aggressive  power  of  the  hand  over  the 
substances  to  be  worked — power  whose  use  is  entirely  repug- 
nant to  the  inoffensive  nature  of  most  idiots.  This  most 
important  use  of  the  hand,  its  aggressive  capacity,  is  generally 
assisted  by  adjuvant  instruments.  It  alters  the  surrounding 
bodies  into  likenesses  of  some  ideal,  which  must  preexist  in 
the  mind ;  it  consequently  transmutes  what  is  a  mode  of  think- 
ing into  a  mode  of  being;  it  works  equally  the  ever  similar 
wooden  doll  of  the  Cretin  of  the  Alps,  and  the  latest  improve- 
ment in  steam  or  electricity. 

The  hand  displaces  and  combines  objects  by  prehension; 
it  acts  on  the  surfaces  as  in  polishing,  drying,  etc.,  by  handling; 
it  acts  on  the  substances  proper,  as  in  carving,  cutting,  ham- 
mering, piercing,  by  aggression. 

The  practice  of  treating  idiots  will  show  what  distance 
separates  these  works,  what  capacities  each  kind  of  labor 
requires ;  and  particularly  how  the  slow  and  difficult  introduc- 
tion of  the  child  into  the  class  of  aggressive  works  will 
develop  in  him  steadiness,  will,  and  power,  the  very  qualities 
most  antagonistic  to  idiocy. 

The  necessity  of  working  with  the  hand  is  urged  even  upon 
higher  grounds  than  mere  physical  or  intellectual  advantages. 
Even  things  being  otherwise  equal  (but  things  are  far  from 
being  so,  most  of  the  time),  the  working  man  is,  as  such, 
superior  to  the  idle  one :  idiots,  in  particular,  are  soon  morally 
improved  by  working.  Work  every  day  is  prescribed  accord- 
ing to  their  ability,  here,  once  for  all,  no  matter  if  its  products 
be  desultory. 

The  importance  of  this  subject,  conclusion  of  all  the  efforts 
at  training  the  organs  of  movement,  must  not  make  us  forget 


Physiological  Education.  83 

that  we  have  left  some  anomalies  unspoken  of,  and  our  few 
instruments  of  special  gymnastics  undescribed. 

Shoulders  rounded  by  dejection,  crooked  sternums,  concave 
clavicles,  narrow  chests,  vicious  structures,  diminishing  the 
capacity  of  the  lungs  for  respiration,  or  of  the  heart  for  cir- 
culation ;  curved  spines,  inequality  of  strength  and  structure 
of  the  two  sides  of  the  body,  and  similar  offsprings  of  the 
incapacity  of  idiots  for  movement,  are  treated  successfully 
with  our  gymnastic  instruments,  and  particularly  on  the  Back- 
board. 

This  board  is  ten  inches  wide,  as  long  as  convenient  to 
stand  inclined  against  a  wall  like  a  ladder,  and  armed  with 
rounds  which  project  laterally  by  pairs,  ten  inches  apart;  it 
looks  like  a  centipede.  The  child  lies  with  his  back  on  the 
board,  raises  his  arms  to  seize  two  rounds,  and  raises  his  feet 
from  the  ground  to  the  first  ones  below.  From  this  step  he 
is  enabled  to  reach  with  his  hands  higher  rounds,  coming 
up  alternately  with  his  feet,  then  with  his  hands,  till  these 
reach  the  top  of  the  board.  There  he  is  allowed  a  little  rest, 
as  well  to  repose  himself  as  to  appreciate  the  novel  mode  of 
ascension,  the  distance  from  the  soil,  the  look  of  everything 
seen  for  the  first  time  from  so  high,  and  to  be  refreshed 
from  past  emotions,  so  that  he  can  stand  what  will  come  next. 

Next  is  the  necessity  of  coming  down.  To  that  effect,  we 
tell  him  to  hold  on  well  with  his  hands,  or  if  we  suspect  any 
incapacity  or  unwillingness  to  do  it,  we  send  somebody  up 
behind  the  board,  whose  hands  shall  press  enough  on  his  not 
to  let  him  fall.  At  the  same  time  we  rapidly  bring  his  two 
feet  from  their  respective  rounds  to  the  centre  of  the  board, 
slightly  adducting  the  legs  and  extending  the  feet.  This  done 
with  a  sensible,  not  strong  jerk,  and  bearing  with  a  mathe- 
matical equality  on  both  sides,  we  replace,  if  necessary,  the 
spine  on  the  vertical  line,  and  every  organ  right  and  left  of 
it,  in  their  normal  relations :  no  room  for  shortness,  none  for 
weakness ;  every  part  must  bear  its  part,  play  its  role,  keeps 
its  place.  Thus  have  we  seen  the  most  shocking  differences 
between  shoulders,  deviations,  already  sensible  of  the  spine, 
shortness  of  one  limb,  disappear  under  the  uniform  action  of 
this  equalizer,  the  Back-board. 


84  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

The  swing  acting  against  a  spring-board,  that  we  have  had 
occasion  to  mention  as  an  instrument  of  passive  exercise,  becomes 
one  of  positive  activity  if  a  rope  passed  through  a  pulley  be  put 
in  the  hands  of  the  child  to  pull  himself  with.  We  set  him  in 
motion,  and  he  alone,  or  under  our  sight,  or  our  immediate  com- 
mand, has  to  continue  the  motion  by  drawing  on  the  rope.  This 
apparatus,  when  properly  built,  and  with  the  spring-board  easily 
brought  into  different  positions  to  suit  different  sized  children, 
is  made  to  be  alternately  an  instrument  of  passive,  or  of  sponta- 
nous,  or  of  continuous  action  for  strengthening  the  arms, 
neck,  spine,  and  legs.  It  is  equally  adapted  to  destroy  some 
nervous  sensibilities  of  the  hand,  and  more  commonly  of  the 
foot.  This  latter  organ  in  particular  is  sometimes  so  delicate 
as  to  avoid  the  slightest  contact,  and  to  refuse  even  to  touch 
the  floor  to  walk.  The  repeated  push  and  repulse  of  the  spring- 
board so  on  do  away  with  these  abnormal  feelings.  The  foot 
recovers  its  firmness,  and  endurance  of  rude  contacts;  first 
qualities  for  the  walk. 

The  ordinary  swing  is  dangerous  as  a  depressor  of  the  ner- 
vous system,  and  consequently  more  greedily  wished  for  by 
those  children  it  injures  the  most.  Ours  differs  in  two  essential 
elements  from  this ;  it  has  a  point  of  contact  on  the  spring- 
board, by  which  the  motor  powers  of  the  child  are  constantly 
aroused  instead  of  being  lulled  into  sleeping  indolence; 
and  it  is  set  and  kept  in  motion  by  the  child  himself, 
who  exercises  thus  his  chest  and  arms  incessantly,  instead  of 
reclining  in  a  useless  posture.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  two  ap- 
paratuses of  the  same  name  so  nearly  alike,  yet  so  opposite  in 
their  physiological  attainments,  as  the  air-swing  of  the  yards, 
and  the  spring-swing  of  the  idiot  gymnasium.  The  former 
gives  lulling,  enervating  sensations ;  the  latter  brings  on  healthy 
contractions,  and  binds  the  unwilling  to  unavoidable  activity. 
The  dumb-bells  are  rarely  used  for  idiots  as  for  ordinary  chil- 
dren, as  instruments  to  give  a  momentum  to  an  automatic  bal- 
ancing. Automatism  in  any  form  need  not  be  favored  in  them ; 
but  dumb-bells  are  instrumental  in  many  exercises,  the  purpose 
of  which  deserve  at  least  a  hasty  notice. 

They  are  used  physiologically,  as  we  have  seen,  to  regulate 
the  general  equilibrium  in  station,  immobility,  walk,  jumps, 
going  up  and  down  stairs,  etc. ;  to  bring  their  momentum  to 


Physiological  Educotion.  85 

bear  on  the  shorter  or  weaker  lever  when  one  side  is  different 
from  the  other ;  to  give  regularity  to  irregular  movements,  and 
even  to  carry  and  absorb  the  automatic  deviations  of  gestures 
into  their  normal  movements ;  to  teach  how  to  take  hold  and  to 
let  go ;  to  teach  to  obey  commands  with  both  sides  or  only  one ; 
to  impress  the  mind  with  the  ponderable  qualities  of  matter, 
each  time  they  are  taken  and  abandoned ;  to  realize  through  the 
muscles,  by  the  same  alternative  burdening  and  discharging, 
the  rapidity  and  reality  of  orders. 

The  dumb-bells  act  on  the  mind  as  much  as  on  the  legs,  spine, 
neck,  shoulders,  arms,  and  hands.  We  find  bricks  of  greater 
advantage  to  strengthening  the  phalanges  of  the  fingers,  and  to 
improve  the  grasp.  A  prolonged  exercise  with  the  dumb-bells 
is  liable  to  stiffen  the  fingers,  but  they  are  handy  for  group 
exercises.  Of  late  Swedish  clubs  have  been  substituted  for 
them  and  do  very  well,  besides  their  more  showy  appearance. 
In  individual  exercises  they  have  no  advantage  over  the  dumb- 
bells; in  group  exercises  they  make  a  different  sight,  and  could 
not  well  be  dispensed  with,  where  introduced  by  way  of  variety 
and  elegance.  Moreover,  these  clubs  are  not  as  heavy  as  iron 
dumb-bells ;  it  is  true  that  we  have  the  latter  of  wood  also. 
Nevertheless,  ""  ahondance  de  bien  ne  nuit  pas,"  and  change 
pleases  idiots  as  well  as  any  of  us. 

To  give  the  fingers  nearly  all  their  strong  qualities,  not  the 
delicate  ones,  we  use  the  balancing-pole  already  mentioned,  but 
not  described.  It  is  a  round  stick  of  hickory,  three  and  a  half 
to  four  feet  long,  armed  at  both  ends  with  wooden  balls  which 
render  it  very  springy.  It  is  thrown  from  our  hands  into  those 
of  the  child,  who  sends  it  back,  receives  it  again,  and  so  on 
with  progressive  force  and  rapidity,  from  increased  distances. 

This  is  sooner  said  than  done.  The  truth  is,  that  some  idiots 
ofifer  to  it  a  resistance  next  to  insuperable ;  however,  this  exer- 
cise is  of  such  importance,  that  the  negation  of  the  child  has 
to  make  room  for  our  will.  If  he  runs  away  from  the  coming 
pole,  we  put  his  back  to  the  wall,  or  his  feet  on  two  high  steps ; 
if  his  hands  remain  closed  when  the  stick  comes  to  them,  some- 
body from  behind  has  to  hold  them  open,  thumbs  up,  and  to 
shut  them  when  the  stick  is  received.  The  same  help  is  re- 
quired to  throw  off  the  pole  out  of  the  hands  which  receive  it 
unwillingly,  and  which  do  not  want  to  throw  it  now.    These 


86  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

helping  hands  which  do  the  receiving  and  the  sending,  for  and 
through  the  rebelHous  hands  of  the  child,  must  be  very  delicate 
indeed  to  feel  at  each  stroke  how  much  of  the  child's  action 
begins  to  take  an  instinctive  or  initiative  part  in  their  own  ac- 
tion; and  to  calculate,  consequently,  how  much  of  the  next 
movement  can  be  left  to  be  accomplished  by  the  spontaneous 
action  of  the  child. 

So  the  simple  action  of  receiving  and  throwing  a  stick  re- 
quires at  first  not  only  three  pairs  of  hands  to  accomplish  it, 
but  is  to  be  analyzed  and  divided  into  so  many  parts  of  action, 
less  and  less  from  us,  more  and  more  from  the  child,  that  no 
language,  descriptive  or  scientific,  could  give  an  idea  of  the 
many  steps  in  this  work,  till  he,  half  impatient,  half  knowing, 
throws  the  stick  with  a  willed  jerk  in  advance  of  our  help,  then 
we  have  succeeded. 

It  will  be  unnecessary  to  describe  again  this  exercise  when 
speaking  of  it  as  the  best  gymnastic  for  a  wandering  sight. 
The  need  of  following  the  stick  in  its  forward  and  backward 
moves  renders  it  especially  useful  when  we  want  to  educate 
the  look.  Its  usefulness  will  be  equally  paramount  when  the 
hands,  narow-shaped,  and  the  fingers,  dry  and  glossy,  can  bear 
no  contact  but  that  of  saliva  or  of  a  few  things  selected  for 
their  peculiar  softness.  It  blunts  the  hyperassthesia ;  under  its 
action  the  hands  soon  resume  their  normal  touch,  and  we 
shall  be  happy  to  find  the  balancing-pole  again  when  treating 
the  anomalies  of  the  senses. 

The  application  of  these  instruments  of  special  gymnastics 
has  brought  us  insensibly  from  the  feet,  legs,  body,  to  shoulders, 
arms,  wrists,  hands,  and  finally  to  the  extreme  phalanges  of 
the  fingers,  where  lie  in  apparent  confusion  the  powers  of 
prehension  and  of  feeling,  of  selection  and  of  rejection. 

When  educating  the  hand  to  prehend  and  reject  with  the 
balancing-pole,  we  had  occasion  for  the  remark  that  this  instru- 
ment was  training  the  hand  to  rough,  not  to  delicate  contacts. 
The  fact  is,  that  unless  unskilfully  handled,  it  falls  on  the 
palms  of  the  hands,  whose  muscular  thickness  is  well  fitted  for 
its  rough  usage,  whilst,  if  it  falls  on  the  pulp  of  the  fingers,  an 
exquisite  pain  indicates  that  this  soft  part  is  reserved  for  more 
delicate  perceptions.  This  delicate  tactile  power  shall  here- 
after  be   the   subject   of   sensorial   training;   but   presently   the 


Physiological  Education.  87 

exercising  of  delicate  prehension,  in  its  three  forms  above  ex- 
plained, will  close  the  actual  series  of  special  motility. 

It  seems  that  the  smaller  the  organ,  the  more  complex  are 
its  functions ;  at  least  the  many  ways  of  using  the  extremities  of 
the  hands,  which  are  so  complex  in  prehending,  handling,  modi- 
fying everything,  justify  this  remark,  and  explain  why  more 
time  more  care,  more  instruments,  more  ingenuities  have  to 
be  spent  during  many  years,  with  the  sole  object  of  giving  skill 
to  the  fingers.  We  need  not  enumerate  all  the  things  which 
have  been  used  for  that  purpose,  but  will  point  out  a  few  of 
those  which  are  truly  physiological  in  their  perfect  adaptation 
to  some  deficient  function  of  the  hand. 

The  blocks  shaped  like  dominoes,  with  their  dimensions  well 
defined,  are  laid  superposed,  combined  together,  to  give  firm- 
ness to  the  handling.  Other  blocks,  like  those  used  in  building 
or  other  combinations,  will  do. 

The  nail-board  is  pierced  with  holes  fitting  exactly  some 
nails  that  the  child  has  put  in,  then  take  out,  exercising  his 
hand  to  precision. 

The  adaptation  of  geometrical  figures  to  their  respective  hol- 
low forms. 

The  raising,  with  the  fingers  from  a  smooth  table,  of  col- 
lections of  minute  articles,  such  as  beads,  pins,  thin  paste- 
board, patterns,  coins,  wafers,  etc. 

The  winding  up  of  cords  of  various  sizes,  and  the  pulling  of 
ropes. 

The  pressure  on  some  mechanism  to  produce  pleasant  sounds 
or  sights. 

The  buttoning  and  unbuttoning,  lacing  and  unlacing;  the 
threading  of  beads,  etc.  These  e5cercises,  and  many  more  such, 
are  well  calculated  to  adapt  the  child's  fingers  to  every  possible 
form,  and  to  prepare  them  for  every  possible  aggressive  work 
on  matter.  But  as  this  requires,  besides  the  use  of  the  hand, 
the  interference  of  some  leading  sense,  as  the  sight,  a  simple 
mention  suffices  here,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  see  these 
exercises  soon  in  action  elsewhere. 

But,  after  all,  the  best  gymnastics  of  the  hands  are  drawn 
from  the  things  held,  handled,  modified  in  the  daily  habits  of 
common  Hfe;  we  said  it  at  the  beginning,  we  repeat  it  at  our 
conclusion.      Finishing   where   a   treatise   on    gymnastics   would 


88  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

begin,  we  turn  our  attention  to  the  point  where  we  found 
our  patients.  They  were  affected  with  incapacities  only,  or 
with  incapacities  and  disorders  of  motion  and  locomotion. 
Against  these  simple  or  double  infirmities  we  have  presented 
a  series  of  advices,  of  means,  and  of  apparatuses  that  experience 
has  shown  the  most  efficient.  But  in  such  matters  the  means 
and  instruments  are  more  easily  remembered  than  the  philosophy 
of  their  application;  whilst  that  philosophy  is  the  very  thing 
which  is  above  all  not  to  be  forgotten. 

Therefore  we  must  represent,  that  whatever  instruments  or 
means  are  employed,  our  starting-point  to  obtain  movement  was 
immobility;  that  through  immobility,  though  imperfectly  ac- 
quired, we  have  been  enabled  to  pass  our  pupils  through  many 
progressive  experiments;  that  the  greater  became  their  immo- 
bility the  easier  and  farther  they  moved;  that  immobility  has 
been  the  beginning  of  all  lessons  of  movement,  as  it  is  the  sup- 
porting point  of  our  own  actions;  that  the  more  steady  is  that 
immobility  the  more  manly,  resolute,  and  efficient  is  the  action 
which,  we  would  not  say  follows  it,  but  we  expressly  say,  takes 
its  root  in  it;  that  the  kind  of  immobility  impressed  upon  our 
patients  every  day,  at  every  start,  from  their  entering  under 
our  rule  to  their  starting  out  for  a  new  life,  is  the  standard  of 
our  strength  upon  their  weakness,  of  the  reaction  that  our  will 
creates  upon  their  unwillingness  in  giving  them  a  determination. 
That  at  each  lesson,  either  if  we  teach  any  extension  of  the 
motive  power,  or  are  engaged  in  the  painful  duty  of  suppress- 
ing automatic  movements,  before  every  exercise  we  must  con- 
centrate their  loose  attitudes  or  stray  gestures  into  compressed 
immobility ;  this  is  the  beginning,  this  is  the  end  of  the  muscular 
training. 

So  far  we  have  tried  to  make  our  pupil  learn  to  act  and 
walk ;  either  by  the  passive  process,  somebody  or  something 
moving  him ;  or  half  actively,  of  himself  doing  that  which  he 
could  not  help  doing  under  the  permanent  pressure  of  our 
command.  But  the  passive  or  quasi-active  process  cannot  last 
for  ever,  and  the  active  one  is  very  slow  and  intermittent.  Be- 
tween them  nature  has  contrived  an  agency  whose  spring  is 
magical  for  good  or  for  evil ;  it  is  neither  entirely  passive  nor 
entirely  active ;  its  initiation  is  passive,  its  performance  is  ac- 
tive ;    its   modes   are   prescribed,    its   execution   voluntary ;    and 


Physiological  Education.  89 

its  performance  admits  of  protracted  reflex  spontaneity — we  have 
described  the  power  of  imitation. 

As  an  instrument  of  training  we  consider  imitation  as  per- 
sonal, when  it  affects  the  person  alone,  or  objective  when  it 
effects  objects.  For  instance,  we  raise  an  arm,  the  child  does 
the  same;  that  is  personal  imitation.  But  we  take  a  book  and 
set  it  upright  on  the  table,  the  child  does  the  same  with  another 
book ;  this  is  objective  imitation.  Everybody  can  understand 
that  both  of  these  are  purely  scholastic  divisions,  necessary  to 
be  kept  in  view  of  our  practice,  because  each  one  initiates  to 
different  sorts  of  actions,  and  leads  to  different  branches  of 
acquirements  and  abilities :  Otherwise,  imitation  is  the  power 
resulting  from  reflex  spontaneity  of  repeating  after  others  acts 
that  we  should  not  or  could  not  have  done  of  ourselves.  It 
furnishes  a  motive  to  the  millions  of  activities  which  have  none 
primarily;  it  was  the  sole  educator  of  the  castes  in  the  ages 
when  the  son  had  to  imitate  his  father's  doings  to  the  end  of 
the  race ;  it  is  latent  or  patent,  normal,  endemic,  or  contagious ; 
as  seen  in  the  Crusaders,  the  Flagellants,  the  Gold  and  Oil 
maniacs,  etc.  This  power  is  in  beasts  as  well  as  in  man;  the 
parrot  has  it  for  speech,  the  ape  has  it  for  gestures ;  we  have  it, 
too,  physically  confined  in  appearance,  to  the  speech  and 
gestures,  but  all  our  organs  can  and  do  imitate  their  similars  in 
the  measure  of  their  physiological  action.  Children  are  known 
to  cough,  chew  food,  button  their  coats,  walk,  like  their  parents; 
imitation  transmutes  the  particular  accent  of  a  few  parents  into 
a  provincial  dialect;  it  gives  the  Welsh,  the  Londoner,  the  Ken- 
tuckian,  their  individuality,  and  assimilates  the  habitues  of  Del- 
monico  to  those  of  Tortoni. 

Personal  imitation  being  a  natural  capacity  in  us,  idiots 
or  not,  we  must  use  it  for  the  good  of  our  children.  Its  physi- 
cal effects  may  be  expressed  as  the  correct  and  rapid  reproduc- 
tion of  actions  limited  to  the  sensible  functions  of  the  body. 
Never  too  soon  commenced,  never  too  much  practised,  never 
too  far  extended  in  its  physiological  applications.  Personal  im- 
itation will  create  precision  and  rapidity,  as  gymnastics  have 
created  strength  and  endurance. 

Beginning  even  before  the  child  can  stand,  if  necessary,  we 
seat  him  on  a  chair  opposite  us,  and  putting  our  hands  in  cer- 
tain  relations  to   our  bodies,   we   invite  him  to  do   the   same. 


90  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

That  he  does  not  do,  and  we  do  it  for  him,  and  keep  his  hands 
in  situ  long  enough  to  make  him  feel  that  that  is  the  point; 
and  after  a  reasonable  succession  of  failures  he  is  to  be  placed 
in  full  view  of  a  group  of  children  smartly  imitating  movements 
monitored  to  them;  this  will  do  as  initiation. 

The  movements  of  totality,  as  sitting,  standing,  kneeling,  are 
to  be  followed  by  movements  of  parts,  the  head,  one  arm,  or 
one  leg;  then  come  the  movements  of  special  organs — the  lids, 
the  lips,  the  tongue,  the  fingers,  etc.  These  exercises  will  be  con- 
centrated upon  the  organs  the  most  affected  by  mutism,  autom- 
atism, chorea,  etc.  In  this  respect  the  hands  will  be  treated 
as  being  affected  with  one  of  the  greatest  infirmities,  the  mabil- 
ity  to  prehend.  And  yet,  notwithstanding  the  special  adapta- 
tion of  these  exercises  to  the  particular  anomalies  of  each  case, 
they  must  be,  in  every  instance  and  at  each  sitting,  merged 
into  the  largest  mimical  generalization,  constantly  making  the 
children  realize  that  the  smallest  part  as  well  as  the  whole  body 
may  be  called  to  answer  the  summons  of  an  external  will  now, 
and  must  be  ready  at  any  time.  This  wide-awakeness  of  the 
whole  being  to  so  many  and  so  varied  impulses,  gives  the  child 
a  standing  entirely  different  from  his  primary  attitude,  and 
makes  him  sooner  or  later  assume  an  intelligent  countenance 
which  is  not  hereafter  defaced. 

But  if  our  exercises  of  personal  imitation  are  curtailed  to 
a  few  serial  movements  of  the  arms,  caricaturing  the  gestures 
of  the  old  telegraph,  the  children  are  certainly  taught  autom- 
atism instead  of  reflex  spontaneity;  the  imperfect  application 
of  a  principle  is  dangerous  to  its  final  realization. 

In  fulfilment  of  this  vindication,  personal  imitation,  far  from 
being  the  circular  repetition  of  a  few  gestures,  is  the  sudden, 
unexpected  call  into  action  of  any  organ  that  can  be  moved 
by  the  will.  This  is  the  broad  ground  of  our  training  in  edu- 
cation;  but  as  the  practice  can  make  it  more  sensible,  we  will 
suppose  and  prepare  a  lesson  given  to  a  dozen  children,  with  the 
double  object  of  general  and  hand  training. 

Imitation  is  first  induced  by  the  concentrated  operation  of 
attention  from  the  teacher  to  the  child;  individual  influence 
requiring  for  its  success  silence,  isolation,  monotony  of  light, 
of  color,  of  circumstances.  But  after  any  practical  extension 
of   the   imitative   faculty   is   acquired,   this   acquisition   must   be 


Physiological  Education.  91 

carried  from  the  quiet  closet  prepared  for  individual  imitation 
to  the  open  room  where  group  imitation  displays  its  contagious 
power :  there  we  are  presently. 

We  put  our  children  together  according  to  the  kind  of  ex- 
ercises to  be  done.  If  the  imitation  is  to  be  alternately  personal 
and  objective,  with  dumb-bells,  etc.,  we  leave  room  between 
each  of  them,  say  four  feet,  in  two  or  three  rows.  If  the  exer- 
cise is  to  require  a  good  deal  of  attention  from  child  to  teacher, 
or  need  to  be  often  interrupted  by  corrections  and  repetitions 
necessitated  by  individual  failures,  the  children  must  be  closely 
marshalled  on  a  straight  line,  the  teacher  in  front  teaching,  the 
silent  assistant  correcting  wrong  movements  from  behind  the 
file.  If  the  exercise  is  already  quite  familiar,  and  has  for  ob- 
ject, not  so  much  the  learning  of  new  gestures,  as  the  correction 
and  more  rapid  performance  of  old  ones,  the  children  will  be 
arranged  on  a  slightly  curved  line,  the  more  expert  at  the 
centre  and  extremities  of  the  concavity,  each  of  them  seeing  all 
the  rest  and  the  teacher ;  thus  doubly  impulsed  and  doubly 
taught. 

The  first  attitude  is  upright  immobility;  without  saying  a 
word,  we  dictate  with  gestures  the  following  attitudes ;  feet 
closed,  feet  open ;  forward  the  left  foot,  feet  again  closed.  Raise 
the  right  knee,  raise  the  left ;  a  firm  slap  of  the  left  hand  upon 
it,  and  motionless.  Some  manoeuvres  of  the  left  limbs;  then 
eyes  shut,  and  open.  The  two  indices  crossing  each  other; 
forward  the  right  foot ;  arms  crossed ;  down  on  the  knees,  up 
again  with  extended  hands,  first  attitude — rest  in  immobility. 
Next  we  dictate  more  special  positions.  Face  right,  face  left, 
hands  raised,  one  foot  forward,  left  hand  out,  both  hands 
out,  close  the  fists,  open  them,  shut  them  again,  extend  indices, 
abut  them,  shut  them.  Down  with  the  right  thumb,  up  with 
the  left,  both  flat  on  the  closed  hands.  Little  fingers  extended, 
indices  also,  abut  the  four,  shut  them  all.  All  the  fingers 
apart,  all  close  together,  indices  apart  from  the  other  fingers, 
little  ones  the  same ;  all  open,  all  shut.  Majors  of  both  hands 
crossed  at  right  angles,  all  the  fingers  of  both  hands  en  chevaux- 
de-frise,  all  shut  in  that  attitude,  separate  them  briskly.  And 
many  more  combinations  easier  to  find  than  to  describe,  closing 
by  three  cheers  and  three  claps  of  the  hands,  for  the  pupils  are 
now  warmed,  bright,  tired,  but  not  exhausted  ;  final  immobility. 


0)2  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

There  has  not  been  a  word,  a  syllable  between  us ;  imitation 
did  all.  It  has  attracted  the  sight,  impressed  the  brain,  con- 
tracted the  muscles ;  slowly  at  first,  more  rapidly  afterwards. 
The  spark  which  directs  a  movement  from  our  brain  to  our 
fingers,  lights  up  its  reflex  action  in  the  fingers;  the  work, 
tedious  at  first,  grows  faster  and  more  pleasant,  till  there  is 
between  us  a  perfect  current,  superior  to,  if  anything  different 
from  electricity;  current  of  understanding  between  teacher  and 
pupils,  as  rapid  as  any  could  be  between  exponents  and  audi- 
tors. These  never-too-much-repeated  exercises  quicken  the 
movements,  improve  the  function  of  sight,  extend  the  range  of 
perceptions,  give  accuracy  to  the  understanding,  put  all  the 
parts  of  the  body  under  the  ready  control  of  the  will,  prepare 
all  the  parts  for  the  full  exercise  of  their  functions,  educate  the 
dead  hand  to  living  work ;  in  these  exercises  above  all  demem- 
ber  the  hand. 

This  rapid  description  of  group-training,  which  holds  good 
in  its  general  aspect  for  all  sorts  of  groupings,  must  not  make 
us  forget  by  what  slow  process  of  individual  studies  we  have 
brought  the  children  so  far.  But  after  months  of  alternate 
individual  and  group-training,  in  fatigue,  often  in  despondency, 
we  see  them  with  joy,  not  only  imitating  the  physiological 
exercises,  but  carry  their  new  powers  of  imitation  into 
the  habits  of  life ;  trying  to  eat,  dress,  stand  as  we  do  before 
them,  profi^ering  their  services  to  weaker  children,  as  we  ten- 
dered ours  to  them ;  and  finally  doing  by  the  influence  of  habit, 
what  more  gifted  children  do  only  under  compulsion. 

Imitation,  confined  to  the  parts  of  our  own  body,  was  natu- 
rally limited;  but  objective  imitation  is  nearly  without  limit. 
Objective  imitation  is  the  correct  and  rapid  reproduction  of 
actions  affecting  the  relations  or  the  sensible  properties  of  ob- 
jects. Its  rationale  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  other  kind; 
consequently  it  would  be  useless  to  give  a  formal  demonstration 
of  it  here,  since  we  shall  have  so  many  occasions  of  showing  it 
in  action.  The  fact  is  that  henceforth.  Personal  and  Objective 
imitation  will  be  brought  in  constant  request  to  give  precision 
and  quickness  to  the  training  in  all  its  branches. 

It  has  been  intimated  already  more  than  once,  that  the  forego- 
ing treatment  of  the  motive  organs  could  not  have  been  carried 
so  far  without  being  impeded  by  many  difficulties,  arising  from 


Physiological  Education.  93 

imperfection  of  other  functions  not  yet  considered ;  among  which 
are  imperfect  or  abnormal  sensations.  In  other  words,  defective 
sensations  have  necessarily  interfered,  more  or  less,  between  the 
child  and  the  objects  of  the  previous  training.  Now  that  the 
anomalies  of  the  muscular  functions  have  been  mastered,  those 
of  the  senses  present  themselves  as  the  foremost  impediment  to 
future  progress. 

It  would  be  quick  work  to  enumerate  these  anomalies,  appos- 
ing to  each  the  best  means  known  to  obviate  it;  but  this  would 
be  better  remembered  than  understood ;  and  this  method  must 
be  thoroughly  comprehended,  if  we  want  it  to  continue  to  be 
perfected  hereafter.  To  demonstrate  it  is  a  duty,  founded  upon 
the  conviction  that  this  physiological  method  has  already  rescued 
many  idiots,  and  shall  be,  when  improved,  the  basis  of  the  edu- 
cation of  mankind. 

For  our  practical  object,  all  the  senses  are  considered  as 
modifications  of  the  tactile  property,  receivers  of  touch  in  vari- 
ous ways.  In  Audition,  the  sonorous  waves  strike  the  acoustic 
nerves ;  in  Vision,  the  retina  is  touched  by  the  image  carried  by 
the  luminous  rays  assembled  at  the  focus ;  the  Taste  and  Smell 
are  yet  more  proximate  modifications.  But  this  touch  is  only 
the  initiatory  part  of  the  function  of  the  sense;  the  impression 
is  to  be  carried  through  the  nerves  to  the  special  ganglia;  and 
the  sensorial  ganglia,  after  perceiving  it,  send  it  to  be  registered 
in  the  Hemispheres.  But  this  last  step,  comparison  included, 
does  not  belong  to  the  sensation  proper ;  it  follows  the  sensa- 
tion, but  not  necessarily,  since  so  many  of  our  sensations  are 
felt  without  being  deemed  worth  reflection  and  registration. 

Tactile  sensation  proper  is  characterized  by  the  feeling  of 
the  touch,  or  perception;  the  seat  of  the  touch  is  the  peripheric 
extremities  of  the  nerves;  but  the  seat  of  the  feeling  is  the 
ganglion,  intermediate  terminus  of  the  afferent  nerves.  Thence 
nerve  fibres  transmit  the  feeling  to  the  hemispheres,  and  the 
different  nerves  transmit  the  will's  orders  to  the  peripheric 
organs  of  action.  But  the  cerebral  ganglia  or  hemispheres  are 
not  the  seat  of  sensation.  Their  removal  leaves  a  bird  in  a 
state  of  stupor,  but  it  opens  its  eyes  when  it  hears  the  report  of 
a  pistol,  and  then  relapses  into  immobility ;  its  sight  is  also 
retained,  since  it  will  sometimes  fix  its  eyes  on  a  particular 
object;  and  likely  the  perception  of  the  other  senses  is  retained, 


94  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

for  it  occasionally  smoothes  down  its  ruffled  feathers,  in  which 
operation  the  sense  of  touch  is  involved. 

On  the  other  hand,  that  the  sensorial  ganglia  are  really  the 
seat  of  sensation,  is  proven  by  the  greater  size  of  the  one  gang- 
lion corresponding  with  the  superior  attainment  of  its  function 
in  each  animal ;  as  in  man  the  relative  outgrowth  of  the  hemis- 
pheres above  the  sensorial  ganglia  is  in  proportion  to  the  su- 
periority of  his  imaginative  and  reasoning  powers  over  his 
capacity  of  perception  through  the  senses. 

These  relative  differences  explain  the  immense  superiority  of 
the  intellectual  faculties  of  man,  and  his  inferiority  to  many 
animals  in  purely  sensorial  perceptibilities.  These  remarks  iden- 
tify the  principle  upon  which  our  sensorial  training  shall  be 
based — that  sensations  take  place  from  the  peripheric  extremity 
of  a  nerve  to  its  centripetal  ganglion;  the  first  receiving  the 
shock,  the  second  the  impression  of  the  shock,  through  the 
nervous  conductors. 

We  find  illustrations  equally  beautiful  and  distressing  of  this 
analysis  of  sensation,  when  we  compare  an  idiot  whose  eye  can- 
not be  struck  by  whatever  image  is  presented  to  his  blank  sight, 
with  another  whose  nerves  transmit  the  impressions  very  slowly, 
and  with  another  whose  sensorium  receives  the  impressions  as 
defaced.  This  pathological  analysis  demonstrates  equally  well 
the  point  of  the  mechanism  where  the  false  image  is  formed  in 
hallucination,  and  the  process  by  which  a  slight,  peculiar  hesita- 
tion, previous  to  the  utterance  of  speech,  precedes  by  many 
months  the  confirmed  symptoms  of  general  paralysis. 

But  to  limit  ourselves  closely  to  our  subject,  we  insist  upon 
this  point,  that  the  functions  of  the  senses  may  be  affected  at 
their  origin,  along  their  course,  at  their  centre,  separately,  or 
together.  Let  us  state  as  a  corollar}%  that  the  senses  may  be  in 
themselves  normal,  yet  left  in  the  same  state  of  impotence  to 
perceive  sensations,  in  which  we  have  seen  the  motor  organs 
incapable  of  moving,  as  if  paralyzed,  by  mere  deficiency  of  the 
will  and  of  the  intellectual  synergy.  This  last  incapacity  may 
be  more  or  less  aggravated  by  sensorial  ones. 

From  these  observations,  we  shall  be  enabled  to  draw  a  few 
inferences  that  will  have  a  practical  bearing  on  the  training  of 
the  senses. 


Physiological  Education.  95 

We  must  make  sure  of  the  point  or  points  where  Hes  the  defi- 
ciency of  a  nervous  function.  If  it  be  at  the  origin  we  must 
cultivate  the  point  of  entrance  of  contacts,  open  the  doors,  en- 
large or  straighten  the  windows  through  which  the  objects  of 
our  sensations  may  come  in  contact  with  the  peripheric  extremity 
of  the  apparatus.  If  it  be  in  the  centripetal  nerves,  we  must 
submit  them  to  series  of  exercises  of  quickness  borrowed  from 
those  of  personal  imitation;  gentle  Faradization  may  do  good 
in  some  instances.  If  the  sensorial  ganglia  lack  sensitiveness  we 
provoke  them  to  such  alternate,  abrupt  feelings  that  these  can- 
not fail  to  be  perceived;  we  move  and  stimulate  them  by  con- 
trasts. If  the  senses,  though  correct,  do  not  receive  impressions 
because  they  are  not  lighted  by  comprehension,  we  must  come 
down,  down  again  till  we  find  the  object  of  our  sensorial,  or 
better  qualified,  intellectual  teaching,  among  and  next  to  the  very 
lowest  things  that  the  child  understands.  And  if  the  want  of 
impression  originates  in  the  deficiency  of  the  will,  we  must 
create  a  desire;  the  thing  desired  shall  stamp  its  impress  on  the 
awakened  senses,  and  soon  be  looked  for  by  the  child.  Practice 
alone  can  suggest  the  whole  of  the  special  rules  of  which  the 
above  are  only  generalizations. 

But  there  is  a  prmciple  in  which  culminates  all  the  training 
of  the  functions,  particularly  of  those  of  the  senses;  principle, 
whose  full  comprehension  or  ignorance  determines  the  issue  of 
all  our  efforts.  This  principle  is  that  each  function  of  the  life 
of  relation  is  virtually,  can  and  must  be  made  effectively,  iden- 
tical with  its  faculty;  in  other  words,  that  each  function  is 
psycho-physiological. 

This  law,  demonstrated  in  animals  as  well  as  in  man,  is  not 
subject  to  exceptions  even  in  idiocy.  In  the  natural  state  ani- 
mals elicit  the  highest  degree  of  instinctive  acuteness  or  even 
of  comprehension  from  the  use  of  their  most  perfect  senses; 
but  under  the  artificial  training  of  schools  and  colleges  the  sen- 
sorial and  intellectual  developments  of  children  appear  quite 
disconnected,  nay,  are  effectively  rendered  antagonistic;  the 
overcultivation  of  one  causing  the  drooping  of  the  other;  the 
exclusive  training  of  the  function  impairing  the  faculty,  the 
exclusive  training  of  the  faculty  atrophying  the  function. 
Contrarily  to  this  practice  we  say,  the  exercise  of  each  func- 
tion must  give  rise  to  a  corresponding  exercise  of  the  comple- 


96  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

mentary  faculty;  and  at  the  present  stage  of  this  exposition 
we  say  more :  Each  sense  must  be  taught  as  a  function,  and 
taught  besides  as  a  faculty. 

The  sense  of  touch  being  the  most  general,  and  in  fact 
all  the  senses  being  mere  modifications  of  it,  we  shall  begin 
by  it  the  training. 

Although  there  is  more  than  one  sense  in  the  touch,  since 
there  we  find  special  nerves  for  pleasure  and  pain,  cold  and 
heat,  pressure,  etc.,  it  does  not  behoove  our  subject  to  consider 
this  sense  under  more  than  two  of  its  aspects :  one  as  a  re- 
ceiver of  sensation  constituting  the  touch  proper,  the  other 
as  seeker  of  sensations  deserving  the  name  of  tact.  By  the 
first  we  perceive  that  we  are  touched  by  some  body;  by  the 
second,  we  seek  for  certain  characters  or  properties  of  bodies. 
In  the  exercise  of  the  former  we  are  to  a  certain  extent  passive, 
ready  or  not  to  receive  the  coming  impression;  in  the  exer- 
cise of  the  latter  we  are  essentially  ready  and  active.  This 
does  not  constitute  two  senses,  but  two  modi  operandi  of  the 
same  sense:  the  like  remark  obtains  for  the  other  senses; 
and  if  we  can  conform  our  training  to  this  modus  operandi 
of  nature,  we  shall  find  our  task  of  awakening  the  senses  com- 
paratively easy. 

The  Tactile  function  is  the  most  important  of  our  senses, 
as  we  have  seen  it  the  most  general,  and  preceding  all  the 
others  at  birth.  This  sense  is  almost  neglected  in  education, 
sadly  abandoned  in  children  to  habits  of  dirtiness  and  de- 
pravity, and  in  women  its  disorders  are  intimately  blended 
with  those  of  hysteria,  etc.  In  idiots  the  touch  often  does  not 
send  to  the  mind,  or  the  mind  does  not  receive  from  the  touch 
its  normal  impressions ;  if  it  be  not  sickly  and  concentrated  in 
one  or  two  pleasing,  repeated  sensations,  it  is  devoid  of  the 
ability  of  perceiving  new  ones,  not  wished  by  the  mind.  This 
sense  in  its  passive  and  active  moods  is  dull  for  all  intellectual 
and  practical  purposes,  and  if  exceptionally  exalted  is  found 
governed  by  a  few  sickly  susceptibilities. 

If  we  examine  the  hand,  moist  with  saliva,  or  in  automatic 
agitation,  and  if  we  except  the  few  peculiarities  of  delicacy 
above  referred  to,  that  hand  gives  scarcely  any  sign  of  feel- 
ing contacts;  and  decidedly  far  from  desirous  of  using  its 
tactile  sense,  tries  to  escape  its  exercise  by  all  means.     But 


Physiological  Education.  97 

if  we  take  it  after  a  series  of  prehensive  and  imitatory  train- 
ings as  those  described  above,  we  find  it  moist  with  the  gentle 
perspiration  of  labor,  a  little  agitated  by  its  previous  actions, 
but  quite  ready  for  a  new  set  of  experiments. 

These  experiments  will  be  of  three  kinds ;  one  to  cultivate 
the  perception,  one  to  transmit  it,  one  to  give  the  knowledge 
of  it;  and  though  these  three  operations  are  always  more  or 
less  united,  it  will  be  easy  to  perceive  that  the  exercises  may 
be  calculated  so  that  each  one  of  these  operations  preeminates 
over  the  others,  and  we  have  only  to  make  our  choice  in  each 
series  of  exercise,  according  to  the  part  of  the  whole  function 
which  needs  the  most  of  training. 

When  the  peripheric  termini  of  the  nerves  of  touch  are 
excitable  or  morbidly  exquisite,  we  see  the  child  avoiding  nor- 
mal contacts,  and  his  organs  left  entirely  a  prey  to  the  pain- 
ful sensibilities  of  hypersesthesia.  Before  doing  anything  to 
correct  these  perversions  of  the  touch,  let  us  look  at  their 
seat  in  the  integuments,  mostly  in  the  hands.  If  they  have 
not  been  levelled  to  the  standard  of  working  hands  by  previous 
gymnastics,  they  offer  a  curious  assemblage  of  transparency, 
stififness,  and  emaciation.  Our  duty  here  is  imperative;  at 
the  same  time  that  we  give  suppleness  to  the  phalanges  by 
passive  exercises,  we  must  hasten  to  cover  the  nervous  termini 
with  stronger  epithelium  by  repeated  friction  against  hard 
substances;  anything  which  is  rough  enough  is  good  enough 
for  this  purpose,  as  carrying  bricks,  turning  coarse-handled 
cranks,  spading,  sawing,  etc. 

But  when  the  external  termini  of  the  nerves  of  touch  are 
dull  or  insensible,  by  looking  at  the  hand  we  ascertain  a  soft- 
ness of  the  articulations,  an  absence  of  prehension,  a  want  of 
warmth  and  of  circulation,  greatly  aggravated  in  winter. 
These  signs  of  anaesthesia  indicate  another  course  of  treatment; 
the  objects  of  contact  must  not  be  rough,  but  substantial ; 
this  condition  appeals  for  a  full  use  of  contractibility ;  at  the 
same  time  the  hand  must  be  titillated  with  feathers  as  if  it 
were  for  fun,  passed  upon  bodies  of  various  degrees  of  polish 
or  of  resistance,  as  on  a  slab  of  marble,  or  on  velvet,  etc.  It 
must  be  plunged  alternately  into  cold  and  warm  liquids,  in 
agglomerations  of  bodies  of  different  softness  or  elasticity, 
as  bags  filled  with  eider-down,  shells,  peas,  flour,  small  shot, 

7 


98  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

etc.  The  child  without  the  concurrence  of  the  sight,  must 
tell  the  difference  between  the  contents  of  these  bags  by  the 
sole  impression  of  his  touch,  etc. 

The  occasions  for  the  special  trainings  of  the  peripheric 
organs  of  touch  are  of  frequent  occurrence;  they  being  so 
often  under  and  above  the  normal  standard  of  sensibility. 

Once  we  had  a  girl,  seven  years  of  age,  much  afflicted;  for, 
besides  her  idiocy,  which  was  superficial,  she  could  not  stand 
on  her  weak  legs.  Her  sensations  of  sight  and  hearing  were 
good,  those  of  smell  and  taste  rather  fastidious ;  those  of  the 
tactile  order,  instead  of  being  concentrated  and  intellectualized 
in  the  hands,  were  rather  running  wild  through  her  frail  crip- 
pled body,  which  could  stand  almost  no  contacts,  or  was  seek- 
ing for  those  of  an  enervating  order,  making  her  a  very  nerv- 
ous, tiresome,  and  often  miserable  child ;  against  this  tactile 
infirmity,  which  was  tending  rapidly,  in  our  judgment,  towards 
a  more  specific  nervous  affection,  we  instituted  a  series  of 
tactile  experiments  drawn  from  collections  of  everything  that 
could  be  handled ;  her  eyes  were  shut,  her  hands  ready,  the 
things  given  to  her  and  named  by  her,  in  a  continuous  and 
contrasting  succession ;  attention  of  the  touch,  that  is  to  say, 
protracted  tactile  exercises,  gave  a  new  direction  to  her  feel- 
ings, she  became  more  quiet  and  could  use  her  once  useless 
hands  after  a  short  time  for  ordinary  purposes. 

When  the  centripetal  nerves  are  slow  in  accomplishing  their 
action,  the  balancing-pole  gives  them  quickness.  To  that  end 
let  us  choose  a  light  one,  whose  body  is  elastic,  and  send  it  into 
the  hands  of  the  child,  who  has  to  send  it  back  to  our  hands 
extended  in  waiting  for  it ;  this  is  a  fast  game,  in  which  the 
vibrations  of  the  pole  send  their  undulatory  shocks,  as  the 
bow  sends  its  to  the  fiddle  through  the  strings ;  felt  it  must  be ; 
in  token  of  which,  the  child  who  was  at  first  sending  the  pole 
rather  reluctantly,  sends  it  back  very  soon  with  a  sort  of  repul- 
sive visfor,  as  if  saying,  "  Too  quick  for  me."  True,  the 
rapidity  and  number  of  vibrations  thus  sent  and  communicated 
to  the  slow  organs  is  incredible,  but  the  more  efficacious. 

The  sensorial  ganglia  may  be  suspected  of  being  the  seat 
of  the  deficiency  of  sensibility  when  what  remains  of  this 
is  more  dull  than  slow,  and  when  the  integument  used  in  pre- 
hension and  touch  offers  no  particular  anomaly.    In  these  less 


Physiological  Education.  99 

promising  cases  we  must  not  relinquish  entirely  our  daily 
experiments  of  the  touch,  but  ask  from  hygiene  and  medicine 
the  help  that  they  can  give,  if  interrogated  with  discretion  on 
constitutional  matters. 

From  this  point  up,  the  doubt  about  the  organ  where  lies 
the  defect  or  the  breach  of  communication,  is  not  easy  to 
resolve.  Nevertheless,  if  one  sensorial  function  alone  be 
stopped,  or  decidedly  more  deficient  than  the  others,  we  may 
surmise  that  the  disconnection  is  in  the  special  apparatus,  or 
sensorial  ganglion ;  but  if  all  the  functions  fail  to  transmit  their 
impressions  to  the  hemispheres,  these  intellectual  organs  may 
fairly  be  held  accountable  for  the  infirmity. 

We  have  insisted  upon  these  tests  of  the  diagnosis  as  para- 
mount to  the  treatment,  because  their  analogue  will  be  found 
in  the  study  of  other  senses,  and  also  because  when  we  meet 
with  similar  obscurities,  instead  of  treating  actively  all  at 
once  we  know  not  what,  we  must  keep  the  children  under  a 
simple  treatment  of  observation.  There,  not  being  disturbed 
by  much  coaxing,  exercised  for  their  health  and  comfort,  we 
have  a  chance  to  observe  them ;  they  have  chances  for  atten- 
tion, emotion,  awakening  of  feelings :  this  too  is  treatment. 

We  need  make  no  apology  for  introducing  the  taste  and 
smell,  after  and  almost  as  appendages  to  the  touch,  because 
they  are  the  senses  the  nearest  akin  to  it,  and  their  treatment 
once  disposed  of  here,  we  shall  be  at  liberty  to  follow  without 
interruption  the  education  of  the  eye  and  ear  as  far  as  they 
will  carry  us  into  the  intellectual  training. 

This  remark  does  not  imply  that  the  taste  and  smell  are 
gross  material  senses  which  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
intellect.  Where  we  find  them  low  and  depraved,  it  is  because 
they  have  been  fed  with  vulgar,  fastidious,  or  disgusting  food, 
in  the  same  way  that  reason  is  limited  by  ignorance,  blighted 
by  prejudice,  distorted  by  sophistry.  It  is  true,  God  has 
blessed  with  no  taste  or  smell  those  who  live  in  destitution, 
crowded  among  decaying  animal  and  vegetable  matters;  but 
whenever  the  working  masses  are  put  in  contact  with  elegant 
perfumes  and  food,  if  it  be  only  to  produce  them,  they  are 
improved  and  elevated  b}^  it.  On  the  other  hand,  any  excess 
in  food  or  drink,  or  aromatics,  is  visited  by  disorders  of  func- 
tion which  react  on  the  normal  qualities.     The  use,  we  mean 


lOO  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

the  normal  use,  of  food  and  perfumes  has  a  present  and  lasting 
influence  on  idiots. 

Its  present  effect  is  to  make  them  sensible  to  anything 
dirty,  and  desirous  to  avoid  it,  and  to  anything  pleasant,  and 
wishing  to  enjoy  it.  It  forces  the  mind  of  the  child  to  the 
exercise  of  many  operations  of  comparison  and  judgment  upon 
sensorial  tastes  and  distastes,  which  could  never  take  place 
in  his  brain  at  this  present  early  stage  of  the  training  upon 
matters  pertaining  to  less  sensorial  and  personal  feelings.  It 
is,  besides,  a  guarantee  against  gluttony,  the  delicacy  of  the 
taste  extending  soon  as  far  as  to  the  comfort  of  the  stomach. 

As  for  the  future,  the  cultivation  of  these  senses  determines 
always  the  general,  and  often  the  special  tendencies  of  our 
pupils.  Educated  in  the  enjoyment  of  cleanliness,  good  food, 
sweet  air,  their  general  tendency  is  to  shrink  with  horror  at 
the  contacts  of  the  street,  chance,  and  beggarly  life  which 
is  the  lot  of  many  uneducated  idiots  and  imbeciles,  and  to 
determine  their  aspirations  towards  better  and  higher  walks 
of  life.  That  special  culture  opens  their  laboring  avocations 
in  the  way  of  some  healthy,  honest  employment  of  their  small 
abilities,  by  which  they  become  gardeners,  florists,  and  farm 
boys,  instead  of  slaves  of  competitive  labor  in  feodal,  infectious 
factories. 

We  do  not  need  to  say  much  more,  to  show  that  the  educa- 
tion of  these  senses  is  of  the  utmost  importance,  even  when 
being  only  dull,  they  are  not  found  incapacitated  by  some 
peculiarity.  Borrowing  nearly  always  our  studies  from  con- 
trasts, rarely  from  similars,  we  must  be  careful  to  go  far 
enough  in  the  extremes  of  differences  to  make  them  felt,  but 
not  enough  to  blunt  the  nerves.  There  is  a  gamut  in  the  scale 
of  smell  and  taste  as  in  the  scale  of  sound;  it  is  not  beneath 
our  dignity  to  compose  series  of  experiments  to  awaken  the 
dull  senses  of  idiots,  as  the  florist  combines  his  bouquets  for 
enervating  and  other  purposes,  or  the  cook  prepares  his  dishes 
for  the  satisfaction  of  delicate  appetites. 

For  those  unmoved  by  moral  or  artistic  considerations,  or 
even  little  sensible  to  the  comfort  or  happiness  that  idiots 
certainly  derive  from  the  appreciation  of  good  things,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  present  the  training  of  the  smell  and  of  the 


Physiological  Ediication.  loi 

taste,  in  its  true  relation  to  strictly  intellectual  and  spontaneous 
faculties. 

In  the  first  place,  in  the  blank  condition  of  their  mind, 
anything  desired  by  the  taste  or  smell,  even  the  most  vulgar, 
which  can  make  an  impression  must  be  welcome,  as  the  first 
object  likely  to  exercise  attention,  and  to  be  compared  with 
the  next.  In  the  second,  if  the  child  does  not  care  for  anything 
but  a  few  objects  whose  taste  and  smell  we  taught  him  to 
like  and  wish  for ;  well,  there  are  our  first  levers,  there  are  the 
characters  of  our  drama,  let  them  speak.  A  smell  attracts 
the  attention  of  the  child;  his  hand,  which  has  never  held 
anything,  brings  the  perfumed  flower  to  his  nose,  or  oftener  to 
his  mouth,  very  frequent  and  curious  confusion  of  the  two 
senses;  let  him  do;  do  not  disturb  this  first  intention,  this 
first  desire  followed  by  a  voluntary  action,  and  its  rewarding 
pleasure,  even  if  he  eats  the  flower,  instead  of  smelling  it. 
But  this  is  only  the  beginning. 

The  senses  and  delicacies  have  declared  their  affinities  for 
each  other.  We  cultivate  the  former,  we  select  intelligently 
the  latter;  and  here  by  satisfying,  there  by  contrasting  these 
appetites,  we  multiply  the  objects  of  comparison,  we  graduate 
the  exercises  of  the  child,  and  we  always  end  a  more  sen- 
sorial, would-be  vulgar  exercise  of  the  taste  or  smell  by  increas- 
ing the  attention,  the  comparison,  the  desire  and  will  of  our  pupil. 

When  he  is  familiar  with  a  certain  number  of  objects  by  the 
use  of  sense,  those  are  spread  out,  and  he  is  asked  which  he 
prefers,  which  he  knows  by  name  if  he  can  speak;  or  if  he 
does  not  speak,  to  select,  or  even  to  eat  or  smell  those  he  likes 
best.  Then  depriving  him  momentarily  of  his  sight,  we  present 
successively  the  objects  to  the  tongue  or  nostrils,  which  must 
discriminate  them  without  the  help  of  the  touch,  sight,  or 
hearing.  When  an  idiot  is  brought  to  that  point  of  attention, 
comparison,  desire,  once  or  twice  a  day  for  several  weeks 
or  months,  for  the  satisfaction  of  this  class  of  appetites,  experi- 
ence does  not  permit  us  to  doubt  that  he  soon  can  be  atten- 
tive, reasoning,  willing,  about  something  else ;  we  could  sooner 
doubt  that  the  yard-stick  used  to  measure  lace  could  measure 
calico ;  that  the  child  who  counts  cherries,  can  soon  count 
dollars;  attention  once  fixed,  is  fixable ;  discrimination  and  will 
once  acting  upon  our  series  of  phenomena  will  act  upon  others. 


I02  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

provided  these  new  ones  are  natural,  and  presented  in  a  physio- 
logical gradation. 

Before  entering  into  the  treatment  of  audition,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  consider  the  anomalies  of  that  function.  The  diagnosis 
of  the  various  incapacities  of  the  ear  is  difficult.  The  ear  in 
man  does  not  show  its  activity  by  external  signs,  as  it  does 
in  some  animals,  nor  even  as  much  does  our  eye.  Some  peo- 
ple seem  to  hear  well  though  perfectly  deaf,  as  when,  through 
the  vibrations  of  the  floor,  they  follow  the  rhythm  of  music  or 
the  dance  in  measure;  or  when  a  deaf-born  baby  begins  to 
understand  and  to  use  language  as  long  as  it  lies  on  the 
vibrating  chest  of  his  nurse ;  but  hears  no  more  and  speaks 
no  more  as  soon  as  it  is  deprived  of  its  contact  with  the 
resonant  walls  of  this  living  musical  instrument. 

Hence,  parents  generally  assert  that  their  child  was  not 
born  deaf,  but  became  so  precisely  at  the  time  when  it  was 
put  down  to  crawl  and  walk.  Hence  J.  R.  Pereire  concluded 
conversely  that  he  could  teach  the  perception  and  the  repro- 
duction of  the  speech  by  the  touch ;  in  which  he  succeeded  so 
well  that  he  communicated  to  his  pupils  even  his  own  southern 
accent. 

On  the  other  hand,  children  may  not  hear  because,  not  of 
organic,  but  of  intellectual  deafness.  A  celebrated  surgeon 
once  sent  us  a  deaf  mute  idiot,  a  child  who  could  give  no 
sign  of  hearing  and  was  absolutely  mute.  We  had  seen  with 
Itard  several  children  intellectually  deaf;  and  having  ascer- 
tained that  this  one  was  sensible  to  a  single  noise  produced 
by  something  he  liked,  we  promised  his  parents  that  he  could 
be  made  to  hear,  which  he  did  inside  of  three  months,  and  to 
speak,  which  he  did  inside  of  six.  But  in  the  majority  of 
cases  of  apparent  deafness  and  mutism,  we  must  be  sparing 
of  promises.  One  fine-looking  idiotic  girl,  after  years  of  appar- 
ent deafness,  was  taught  to  hear  and  comprehend  the  language 
very  well ;  yet  she  remained  mute,  being  prevented  from  speak- 
ing, even  from  crying,  by  local  paralysis  ;  showing  that  mutism 
cannot  always  be  safely  referred  to  either  kind  of  deafness 
ind'CRtf^d  above. 

Besides  the  intellectual  deafness  caused  by  idiocy,  alienation, 
ecstasy,  and  the  organic  deafness  caused  by  defects  in  the 
organs  of  audition,  there  are  several  causes  which  interfere 


Physiological  Education.  103 

with  speech  in  children,  idiotic  or  not.  These  causes  which 
comphcate  or  aggravate  idiocy  are  paralysis,  of  which  we  gave 
an  example.  Chorea,  dyspnoea,  an  unsymmetrical  arrangement 
of  the  maxillary  bones,  and  teeth,  vices  of  conformation  of  the 
larynx  and  tongue,  and  a  high,  ogival  or  funnel-shaped  palate, 
etc. — accessory  infirmities  which  require  the  help  of  medical, 
surgical,  or  mechanical  skill.  Leaving  this  to  whom  it  belongs, 
we  concentrate  our  efforts  upon  the  intellectual  deafness  pro- 
duced by  idiocy. 

This  deafness  and  its  consequent  muteness  is  not  always 
absolute;  the  children  may  hear  a  few  words  in  a  sentence, 
and  speak  in  the  same  proportion;  they  may  hear  words 
uttered  very  near  them,  and  they  will  speak  or  answer  at  the 
sam.e  distance — not  farther;  nevertheless,  to  embrace  all  the 
cases,  we  treat  of  intellectual  deafness  in  its  broadest  accepta- 
tion. 

The  sense  of  hearing  is  put  in  activity  by  the  stroke  of 
atmospheric  waves  into  the  auditory  apparatus.  Its  functions 
are  hearing,  auditing,  listening,  selecting,  and  repelling  sounds. 
We  simply  hear  when  a  sound  makes  an  impression  without 
the  help  of  attention;  we  audit  when  the  organ  is  kept  intel- 
lectually attentive ;  we  listen  when  the  sounds  or  their  mean- 
ing being  difficult  to  gather,  the  organ  is  kept  in  functional 
erethism  by  the  will.  The  ear  selects  one  sound  among  many 
as  when  following  the  tick-tack  of  a  watch  among  clocks  beat- 
ing the  sam.e  measure,  or  the  voice  of  the  broker  among  the 
melee  of  cries  at  the  stock  exchange,  etc. ;  and  the  ear  eludes 
altogether  the  impression  of  all  sounds  when  our  mind  is 
deeply  engaged  otherwise.  These  two  latter  uses  of  the  ear 
are  acquired  by  experience  in  special  circumstances;  the  first 
three  are,  for  the  sake  of  simplicity,  reduced  to  two — the  pas- 
sive mode,  or  hearing,  the  active  mode  comprising  auditing 
and  listening,  whose  distinction  is  only  incidental,  though 
important. 

The  sounds,  objects  of  our  present  studies,  are  noises,  music, 
and  speech.  These  three  classes  of  sounds  speak  respectively, 
the  noises  to  the  wants,  the  music  to  the  motive  powers,  the 
speech  to  the  intellect. 

From  passive  hearing  to  active  audition  and  intense  listening 
applied  to  these  three  classes  of  vibrating  phenomena,  there 


I04  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

are  many  grades  that  are  far  from  being  gotten  over  by  many 
children — even  by  most  men ;  in  this  way  we  carry  idiots  as  far 
as  we  can,  and  generally  far  enough  for  ordinary  intellectual 
purposes. 

The  sounds  of  noises  are  like  hieroglyphics  of  phenomena, 
meaning  the  thing  producing  the  noise;  one  means  pouring 
rain,  another  means  the  rushing  of  winds;  one  means  sawing 
wood,  another  means  the  frying  in  the  pan  which  awakens  the 
child's  appetite.  The  wild  boy  educated  by  Itard  did  not 
hear  the  report  of  a  pistol  discharged  behind  his  head,  but 
heard  the  fall  of  a  nut  upon  the  floor.  If  water  be  poured  from 
one  vessel  into  another  near  an  idiot  apparently  deaf,  at  a 
time  when  he  is  very  thirsty,  he  will  turn  his  head  and  go 
for  a  drink.  What  a  field  to  awaken  the  attention  and  make 
the  organ  ready  and  sensible ! 

Music,  if  it  has  no  special  meaning  for  idiots,  is  competent, 
by  the  arrangement  of  its  vibrations,  to  excite  in  them  many 
unknown  impulses ;  hence  music  has  more  lasting  and  varied 
applications  than  noises  in  our  treatment.  Noises  are  more 
particularly  taught  to  individuals  separately,  in  isolation  and 
in  ambient  silence;  music  is  employed  more  for  groups  in 
nearly  all  its  applications,  and  they  are  many. 

Music  pleases  the  child  without  hurting  him,  a  few  excep- 
tions reserved ;  it  gives  rest  from  hard  labor ;  it  causes  in  the 
immovable  child  a  tremulousness  of  all  the  fibres,  which  is 
easily  turned  into  incipiency  of  action ;  it  prepares  the  nervous 
apparatus  in  a  similar  manner,  awakens,  quickens,  and  sup- 
ports the  thoughts  wonderfully ;  it  dispels  anger,  weariness, 
melancholy,  and  disposes  to  gentle  feelings ;  it  is  a  moral  seda- 
tive by  excellence. 

We  hardly  think  it  necessary  to  say  that  to  produce  these 
physiological  effects  the  music  played  before  and  with  the 
concourse  of  idiots  must  be  selected  or  composed  expressly 
for  their  wants,  their  tastes,  the  necessities  of  their  various 
circumstances. 

The  general  characters  of  their  music  must  be  striking  con- 
trasts, long  silences  after  vivacious  measures,  etc.;  the  morn- 
ing airs  beginning  with  the  tunes  corresponding  to  the  natural 
dispositions  of  the  children,  modified  by  the  brightness  or  dul- 
ness  of  the  atmosphere,  by  the  heat,  thunder,  rain,  snow,  and 


Physiological  Education.  105 

any  particularity  that  affects  the  emotional  powers.  The  tunes 
must  carry  them  thence  by  a  pleasing  transition  to  the  point 
of  slight  reflective  excitement  favorable  to  study;  the  tunes 
played  to  concentrate  the  attention  acting  like  a  sedative  to 
muscular  exertion  and  those  relieving  the  mind  from  these 
bonds  must  express  mirth  or  muscular  vigor  to  disperse  the 
children   towards  play-ground   or   gymnasium. 

Preceding  physical  exercises,  the  strains  shall  be  lively ;  and 
when  accompanying  them  shall  affect,  as  nearly  as  possible, 
the  measure  of  the  actions  commanded;  and  when  later,  accom- 
panying the  exercises  of  human  voices,  the  notes  must  come 
forth  in  long,  prolonged  tones,  favoring  the  emission  of  the 
steady  sounds  of  vowels  or  syllables.  As  for  the  artistic  use 
of  music  idiots  are  sensible  to  it.  As  a  recreation,  their  taste  is 
of  the  popular  or  colored  kind ;  they  like  lively  funny  airs  and 
songs,  without  being  indifferent  to  impressive  ones.  Most  of 
them  like  to  be  drowned  in  torrents  of  music,  being  soon  carried 
away  by  the  impulse  of  its  vibrations ;  and  it  does  them  good 
to  be  served  often  through  the  day  with  treats  of  harmony  as 
with  food,  provided  there  be  variety  in  the  acoustic  relishes. 

The  first  teachings  of  music  are  not  the  product  of  any  pro- 
found system,  but  the  result  of  long,  steady  cultivation  of 
habit.  The  child  who  does  not  care  for,  or  does  not  even  hear 
music,  is  treated  as  if  he  loved  it;  and  as  there  is  plenty  of  it 
about  the  house,  let  him  be  struck  by  it.  Only,  as  he  is  not 
sensible  to  it  in  ordinary  conditions,  we  must  create  the 
conditions  most  favorable  to  prepare  his  senses  for  hearing. 
To  that  effect,  when  tunes  are  to  be  played,  we  put  the  intel- 
lectually deaf  child  near  the  piano,  and  if  necessary  at  first, 
we  let  him  support  his  hands,  even  his  chest,  against  the  instru- 
m.ent,  which  most  weak  or  lazy  children  are  willing  to  do 
sooner  than  to  stand  upright.  When  he  is  just  settled  in  this 
posture  the  piano  sends  forth  its  strongest  vibrations,  then 
its  sweetest  tones,  then  comes  a  long  silence,  followed  again 
by  vibrations.  This  takes  place  in  the  midst  of  group  teach- 
ing, with  the  incitement  of  the  other  children  auditing  and 
singing  themselves.  Contrarily,  the  next  experiment  for  per- 
ceiving the  sounds  of  music  shall  be  made  an  individual  exer- 
cise; the  child  kept  in  isolation,  even  in  darkness,  and  music 
played  at  a  distance,  whence  it  comes  unencumbered  by  the 


io6  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

noise  or  movements  of  other  children,  will  penetrate  sooner  or 
later  into  the  blank  organ.  Surprise  sounds,  too,  are  tried 
occasionally  to  start  up  an  unexpected  sense  of  hearing. 

As  soon  as  the  child  shows  signs  of  sensibility  to  music, 
these  various  experiments  must  be  made  pleasant  enough  to 
transform  the  simple  function  of  hearing  into  the  capacities 
of  auditing  and  listening.  One,  auditing  is  developed  by  giv- 
ing continuity  to  the  tunes  as  if  they  were  discoveries ;  the 
other,  listening  is  created  by  breaking  the  continuity  of  the 
tune  at  its  most  interesting  accent-point  where  in  language 
we  place  the  mark  of  interrogation ;  leaving  the  ear  of  the 
child  hearing  yet,  and  listening,  as  if  thirsting  for  more. 

But  above  all,  and  for  our  present  object,  the  teaching  of 
music  must  be  soon  blended  in  that  of  speech,  and  first  of 
voice.  The  voice  which  sings  emits  vowels;  these  vowels  may 
be  intoned  by  imitation  to  the  diapason  of  the  speech,  and 
after  a  while  supported  by  consonants.  This  transformation 
is  brought  on  insensibly  in  the  course  of  the  musical  training, 
and  shall  be  more  technically  improved  hereafter. 

If  we  now  look  back,  we  can  see  that  we  began  to  use  music 
to  please,  to  attract  instinctive  attention,  to  give  a  passive 
vibration  to  the  muscles  and  nerves  preparatory  to  and  during 
exercises.  We  have  used  music  to  give  perspicuity  and  con- 
tinuity to  audition,  and  to  support  the  organs  of  voice  in 
learning  to  speak.  Finally  we  shall  find  it  intermingled  with 
most  of  the  exercises  and  habits  of  life  of  our  pupils,  as  a 
happy,  healthy  stimulus.  It  was  the  most  pleasing  and 
unmeaning  of  our  agents ;  it  has  become  the  most  useful,  it  has 
adapted  itself  to  our  deepest  purposes. 

When  idiots  cry  we  must  remember  that  they  are  still 
children,  some  of  them  little  infants.  Many  of  them  do  not 
speak,  they  scarcely  move,  the5A  have  no  other  language  than 
cries,  no  other  gymnastic  than  the  diaphragmatic  spring-board 
upon  which  they  exercise  their  vital  organs  in  respiring  and 
screaming.  If  we  knew  more,  we  should  appreciate  these 
voices,  all  significant  of  the  wants,  the  love,  the  excitement 
of  life  reduced  to  its  last  limits  of  inwardness.  Consulting 
our  own  sensations,  we  could  remember  how  the  chest  requires 
expansion,  and  how  often  we  have  yawned  with  loud  sigh 
after  protracted  silence  and  immobility;  we  ought  sometimes 


Physiological  Education,  107 

to  revert  to  our  own  physiological  necessities  when  we  are  on 
the  verge  of  impatience  about  physiological  manifestations 
from  children  that  we  do  not  understand.  The  truth  is  about 
their  cries,  that  besides  their  value  as  chest  gymnastics,  they 
are  their  sole  alarm  in  danger  or  want,  their  sole  means  of 
social  communication.  But  more,  these  cries  are  voices  after 
all,  they  are  the  only  beginning  upon  which  we  may  be  able 
to  found  the  teaching  of  the  speech ;  altering  the  cry  into  a 
medium  voice,  supporting  that  voice  on  successive  consonants, 
and  so  on,  preparing  the  materials  of  true  speech  out  of  the 
animal  voice. 

Before  commencing  to  extract  the  speech  out  of  the  instinc- 
tive language  of  cries,  we  must  take  a  good  survey  of  the 
organs  from  the  lips  inwards ;  be  sure  that  there  are  none  of 
the  physical  or  pathological  defects  mentioned  above  which 
must  have  been  removed  if  existing  by  this  time.  We  may 
sa}^  the  same  of  the  moral  capacities  of  the  child  to  which 
another  part  of  this  book  is  reserved ;  they  demand  all  our 
attention  previous  to  entering  into  the  training  of  the  speech. 
AVhat  we  want  is  good-will  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  and 
pupils,  and  a  willed  understanding  between  them.  Such,  with 
confidence  and  winning  kindness,  are  the  physical  and  moral 
elements  to  be  insured  before  trying  to  teach  a  mute,  or  half- 
mute  idiot  to  speak. 

Our  language  being  the  representation  by  a  combination  of 
sounds  and  articulations,  of  all  the  human  impressions  and 
spontaneities,  it  is  manifest  that  the  idiot  must  find  it  the 
act  the  most  impossible  and  antipathetic  to  his  nature ;  because 
it  requires  what  he  lacks  most,  the  synergy  of  several  faculties 
with  several  organs. 

To  make  it  sufficiently  expressive  upon  idiots,  we  have  to 
strengthen  it  with  uncommon  accent  and  emphasis,  acting  with 
words  on  the  tympanum,  in  the  same  way  as  moral  coercion 
acts  on  the  mind.  Besides,  to  teach  the  distinct  perception  of 
the  voice,  we  must  emit  it  from  very  near,  and  more  than 
distinctly,  contracting  sound  as  well  in  volume  as  in  pitch. 
And  to  teach  the  meaning  of  the  words  as  representatives  of 
entities,  properties,  actions  or  commands,  the  accents  or 
emphasis  will  better  mark  their  intellectual  value  than  all 
possible  commentaries.     So  that  the  exaggerated  accent  and 


io8  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

emphasis,  far  from  being  a  temporary  expedient,  will  accom- 
pany all  our  teaching  to  its  end  in  slow  decreasing  progression, 
except  in  a  single  case  worth  stating  instantly. 

We  drop  the  accent  when  we  want  to  command  anything 
for  which  the  child  must  make  a  choice  of  his  own  judgment. 
With  this  particular  object  in  view  our  speech  to  him  must  be 
of  such  evenness  that  not  a  syllable  could  influence  him  to 
follow  our  ovv'n  idea  instead  of  his  free  will ;  then  the  gestures 
and  look  must  be  as  neutral  as  the  language ;  more  about  this 
in  the  moral  training. 

The  mechanical  processes  of  speech  are  of  two  orders ;  one 
taught  in  the  imitation-room  from  mimicry  for  the  formation  of 
articulation ;  the  other  we  have  seen  borrowed  from  music  for 
the  training  of  the  voice. 

At  the  first  lesson  appointed  for  the  beginning  of  articula- 
tion, the  child  is  made  to  resume  his  morning  and  evening 
exercises  of  imitation  without  warning,  explanation  or  ado; 
the  movements  are  mostly  concentrated  in  the  hands,  the  hands 
brought  about  the  face,  the  fingers  put  in  and  about  the  mouth. 
All  the  parts  of  the  face  are  moved  in  correlation  with  the 
fingers,  and  the  mimicry  is  effected  with  the  double  object, 
first:  of  giving  the  child  an  analytical  survey  by  the  touch,  the 
sight,  and  the  movement  of  the  various  parts  involved  in  the 
act  of  speech,  from  without  inwards;  second,  of  making  him 
execute  silently  after  us  the  movements  of  the  different  parts 
employed  in  speaking.  At  this  second  stage  of  imitation,  the 
hands  have  been  withdrawn  little  by  little,  the  teaching  and 
the  taught  faces  have  come  nearer,  taken  a  better  survey  of 
each  other,  and  their  execution  of  mimicry  has  grown  warmer, 
quicker,  more  correct.  After  this,  all  the  organs  of  speech, 
the  lips,  tongue,  etc.,  are  moved  freely  in  all  directions  and  in 
every  manner;  and  once,  as  if  by  chance,  in  the  middle  of  the 
mute,  mimical  exercises,  the  lips  being  well  closed,  we  part 
them  by  thrusting  out  an  emission  of  A^oice  which  pronounces 
Ma  or  Pa,  it  is  just  indifferent  which.  If  the  child's  lips  be  soft, 
pale  with  confused  delineations,  Ma  is  the  word ;  if  the  lips  be 
red,  firm,  well-shaped,  we  begin  with  Pa.  The  same  remark 
will  rule  the  beginning  of  all  the  libial,  lingual,  dental,  or 
guttural  syllables ;  we  are  governed  at  first  by  the  structure  of 
the  organs,  but  after  choosing  the  easiest  to  be  pronounced 


Physiological  Education.  109 

first  by  the  pupils,  we  soon  disregard  them,  and  do  not  linger 
in  the  matters  of  routine,  but  advance  every  instant. 

Often  things  do  not  go  on  so  easily ;  particularly  in  joining 
the  sound  of  vowels  to  the  articulation  of  consonants.  This 
difficulty  is  generally  overcome  by  the  musical  exercises  of  the 
voice.  Here  music  ceases  to  be  a  passive  pleasure,  and  becomes 
the  unpleasant,  irresistible  propulsor  of  the  voice.  This  change 
must  be  made  b}-  an  insensible  transition;  happily  as  we  have 
had  time  to  transform  or  concentrate  gradually  the  imitatory 
movements  of  the  whole  body  into  the  imitative  mimicry  of 
the  organs  of  speech,  similarly  we  had  the  same  opportunity 
of  time  and  instruments  for  transforming  the  passive  audition 
of  music  into  its  imitation  by  the  voice.  These  imitations 
may  be  at  first  clumsy,  short,  accidental,  rare  even ;  let  us 
enforce  them  more  and  more  at  the  piano,  with  our  own  voice, 
by  private  efforts,  in  private  groups,  perseveringly  exacting 
voices  out  of  mutism,  long  sounds  out  of  short  ones,  series  of 
them  after  single  emissions.  The  whole  is  done  with  the  help 
of  the  piano  or  of  other  instruments  supporting  well  the  voice ; 
and  afterwards  we  again  take  hold  of  our  good  lever  imitation, 
moving  this  time  with  it  altogether  voice  and  articulation,  in 
isolation  or  in  groups,  for  the  emission  of  syllables  simple, 
double,  or  compound,  once,  twice,  or  more  times,  with  or  with- 
out music,  with  or  without  formal  command. 

In  this  completion  of  the  function  it  is  of  some  importance 
which  syllables  are  first  taught.  We  present  as  foremost  the 
two  first  indicated,  Ma,  or  Pa ;  they  are  the  proper  ones  to  com- 
mence with  when  the  lips  are  in  normal  relations,  and  only 
remarkable,  as  we  said,  for  their  softness  or  firmness.  But  if, 
in  their  construction  and  relation  to  each  other  there  are  ano- 
malies we  would  find  it  more  rational  to  begin  by  other  sylla- 
bles. For  instance  when  the  upper  lip  is  thick,  and  the  lower 
one  thin  and  short,  abutting  easier  to  the  upper  teeth  than 
to  the  upper  lip,  the  syllables  Va  and  Fa  will  be  proper.  Some 
anomalies  of  structure  or  relation  concerning  the  teeth,  tongue, 
and  palate,  will  offer  other  inducements  to  avoid  and  to  select 
different  syllables  to  begin  with.  Rarely  the  tongue  moves 
easier  than  the  lips:  but  if  so,  "La"  or  "Da,"  will  present  an 
advantage  for  a  start.  Where  the  organs  are  norma  the  rule  is 
to  teach  the  syllables  in  the  order  in  which  they  are  emitted 


no  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

from  the  lips  backwards,  from  the  seen  to  the  unseen  organs. 
Otherwise,  we  must  follow  the  indications  of  nature's  own 
plan,  the  exceptional  progression  of  the  teaching  seeming 
fixed  beforehand  by  the  peculiar  build  of  the  parts. 

Another  rule  is  to  commence  the  lessons  with  syllables 
beginning  with  a  consonant,  and  to  use  those  in  which  the 
vowel  is  inclosed  between  two  consonants  alternately  with 
those  in  which  two  consonants  precede  the  vowel,  for  fear 
the  tongue  should  lapse  into  the  habit  of  one  of  these  pronun- 
ciations and  refuse  to  emit  the  others.  The  syllables  beginning 
by  a  vowel  come  later  yet,  as  it  is  a  great  deal  easier  to  say  Pa 
than  Ap,  the  first  utterance  being  supported  by  the  lips,  the 
second  by  nothing.  More  in  regard  to  the  teaching  of  speech 
might  be  said,  but  as  it  becomes  soon  mingled  with  that  of 
writing  and  reading,  we  will  not  anticipate  here  what  we  shall 
have  to  expose  hereafter. 

Enough  to  say  that  when  we  have  followed  any  of  these 
graduated  categories  for  a  certain  length  of  time  we  find  them 
dangerous  as  creating  routine,  more  particularly  those  favored 
by  the  peculiarities  of  structure  above  referred  to ;  so  that  the 
series  of  exercises  the  most  appropriate  at  the  beginning  must 
soon  be  avoided,  and  replaced  by,  and  afterwards  alternated 
with,  their  exact  opposites.  Finally,  we  must  not  forget  that  in 
the  primary  trials,  doubling  the  syllables  renders  their  pro- 
nunciation easier  and  more  attractive;  later,  it  would  be  an 
impediment  to  progress,  and  an  incitement  to  stuttering;  but 
at  the  start  everything  sounding  like  syllables  is  to  be 
encouraged  first,  and  corrected  afterwards.  Therefore  all  our 
primary  rules  here  are  nothing  but  transitory  and  transposable 
expedients  subject  to  the  higher  law  of  observation.  So  far  we 
have  spoken  of  the  exercises  of  the  speech  only  as  individual, 
and  forced  by  the  strength  of  direct  imitation ;  but  as  any  one 
can  surmise  the  child  has,  for  a  long  time  previously,  been 
made  a  witness  to  the  exercises  of  the  speech  by  groups, 
before  he  is  made  a  participant  in  them.  As  soon  as  he  gives 
certain  signs  of  attention  or  tries  to  imitate  speech,  he  is  sys- 
tematically exercised  in  it  alone  and  in  a  group.  At  whatever 
point  of  the  vocal  teaching  we  are  engaged,  it  is  important  to 
remember  that  speech  is  such  a  spontaneous  faculty,  that  it  is 
not  enough  to  teach  it,  to  produce  it.     The  chances  are  that 


Physiological  Education. 


Ill 


what  the  child  learns  to-day,  he  will  not  show  at  once;  but 
occasion  will  bring  it  out  later;  or  what  the  child  learned  and 
did  not  show  in  private  teaching  will  appear  when  he  shall 
take  his  part  in  the  group,  and  vice  versa;  and  what  private  or 
group  emission  of  voices  cannot  bring  out,  may  flow  from  his 
lips  without  effort  after  some  lazy  looking  on,  and  accidental 
hearing :  we  sow  and  nature  fecundates. 

We  must  conform  our  teaching  to  that  physiological  law  of 
the  production  of  voice  as  well  as  of  everything  spontaneous 
in  man.  At  the  time  when  we  teach  syllables  or  words  with  so 
much  fatigue  to  ourselves  and  concentration  to  the  child,  we 
must  not  expect  to  see  him  using  them  in  his  own  language ; 
but  as  if  he  had  learned  nothing,  he  will  continue  to  emit  for  his 
own  use  the  bi-syllabic  repetitions  whose  grammar  is  music. 
"Ah-de-de,"  shouts  Edward  in  his  joy;  "Ah-ne-ne,"  repeats  he 
in  disappointment;  ringing  or  nasal  sounds  which  adapt  them- 
selves exactly  to  theories  or  philology,  like  the  colors  of  a 
painter  to  a  landscape.  Our  primary  teaching  must  go  through 
without  touching  this  natural  speech,  taking  care  not  to  substi- 
tute Greek  etymologies  for  those  of  passion,  fearing  to  suppress 
in  the  speech  of  the  child  its  higher  element,  spontaneity; 
justly  afraid  of  our  coming  under  the  severe  apostrophe  of  J.  J. 
Rousseau,  "  Everything  is  well  as  it  comes  from  the  hand  of 
the  Creator,  everything  degenerates  in  the  hands  of  man."  If 
anything  is  divine  in  speech  it  is  not  grammaticism,  it  is  the 
bounteous  fluency,  which  flows  life  a  stream  from  the  soul. 

For  a  long  time  we  must  be  satisfied  with  this  double  prog- 
ress, not  always  keeping  pace  with  each  other,  of  formal 
speech  in  the  training,  and  informal  language;  later  exercises 
and  practice  will  tend  to  unite  them. 

We  postponed  until  now  an  observation  that  the  reader  has 
no  doubt  supplied;  it  is  concerning  the  part  to  be  attributed 
to  the  sight  in  the  training  of  the  speech.  Sounds  are  taught 
by  audition,  but  articulation  is  appreciated  by  the  look;  we  had 
no  opportunity  to  consider  the  functions  of  the  eye  so  far,  but 
we  come  to  them  presently. 

The  sight  is  the  sensorial  function  by  which  we  receive, 
through  light,  the  impression  of  objects  standing  or  coming  in 
its  range.     This  constitutes  passive  vision.     Active  vision  or 


112  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

look,  is  the  faculty  of  the  same  sense  so  very  special  and 
diversified  from  man  to  man,  that  two  painters  never  reproduce^ 
i.  e.  see  the  same  object  in  the  same  light.  But,  to  understand 
its  grandeur  and  pow^er,  not  in  a  Titian,  a  Cuvier,  or  a  Schiller, 
but  in  our  own  selves,  we  have  to  compare  the  capacity  of  our 
sight  with  that  of  the  same  sense  in  some  idiots.  In  them 
it  is  reduced  to  the  sensibility  of  the  retina  to  a  few  rays  of 
light  falling  obliquely  into  the  chamber  of  vision,  nothing  else 
seeming  to  be  perceived  but  a  dark  obstacle.  But  what  won- 
der !  when  our  own  mind  is  much  concentrated,  we  do  not  see 
things  actually  passing  before  us,  nearly  striking  us,  no  more 
than  insane,  at  some  times,  and  idiots  ordinarily  do.  In  most 
idiots  the  sight,  without  being  so  deeply  anomalous,  is  much 
perverted  in  all  its  modes  of  perception  or  in  one  only;  as  when 
they  see  things,  appreciate  their  number,  their  shape,  their 
usage,  and  cannot  discriminate  their  color.  Idiots  even  seeing 
quite  accurately,  seem  to  experience  various  difficulties  in  look- 
ing at,  in  directing,  or  concentrating  their  willed  regard  in 
some  direction  or  at  some  distance ;  generally  their  look,  when 
they  have  any,  does  not  seem  to  go  or  stay  where  they  wish, 
and  appears  thrown  at  hap-hazard.  The  voluntary  functions  of 
this  sense  are  always  defective.  They  see,  but  look  badly 
or  accidentally,  and  use  their  sight  only  for  hunting  the  things 
they  crave  for;  some  even,  when  asked  to  look  at  something, 
shut  their  eyes  firmly  when  trying  to  obey.  In  fact  the  sight 
is,  of  all  our  senses,  the  most  intellectual,  and  the  one  whose 
anomalies  are  the  most  varied  and  the  most  connected  with 
intellectual  disorders  in  idiocy. 

For  these  reasons  and  on  account  of  the  help  we  borrow  from 
the  restoration  of  this  function  for  all  parts  of  the  training,  we 
must  begin  the  education  of  the  sight  as  soon  as  possible. 
But  let  us  confess  that  if  the  diagnosis  of  the  infirmities  of  the 
ear  is  more  difficult  than  the  distinction  of  those  of  the  eye, 
the  training  of  the  eye  presents  more  real  obstacles  than  that 
of  the  ear.  When  the  function  of  the  sight,  entirely  involun- 
tary, is  reduced  to  serving  a  few  instincts,  and  restricted  to  the 
reception  of  a  few  passing  reflections  of  light  or  of  brilliant 
objects,  the  task  is  difficult.  When  we  taught  the  ear,  more 
passive  sense,  we  had  only  to  send  the  sounds  into  the  con- 
cha   and    they    entered,    striking    the    tympanum,    moving    the 


Physiological  Education.  113 

nerves  through  the  ossicula :  we  were  acting  and  the  passive 
organ  was  reacting.  But  the  eye  is  an  organ  more  active  by 
its  nature,  inactive  only  in  idiots  by  exception,  and  not  easily 
coaxed  to  action.  To  make  a  child  feel  a  body,  we  put  it  in  his 
hand;  to  make  him  smell  another,  we  bring  it  to  his  nostrils ;  to 
make  him  taste  another,  we  place  it  in  his  mouth ;  but  to  make 
the  idiot  see,  when  he  turns  his  eyes  away,  or  covers  them 
with  his  hands,  or  shuts  them,  or  throws  himself  down  when 
any  object  is  presented  to  his  sight,  what  shall  we  do? 

No  doubt  the  resistance  to  an  intelligent  use  of  the  sight 
is  not  always  so  complete,  violent,  and  obstinate;  but  even 
when  it  is  of  a  more  negative  character,  we  find  it  insuperable 
enough  in  its  milder  forms,  to  bring  home  to  us  more  than  one 
discouragement. 

Of  all  the  things,  if  there  be  any,  which  can  penetrate  the 
glassy  or  tarnished  eye  of  our  pupil,  it  is  our  own  look :  the 
looks  call  for  the  look.  We  keep  the  child  seated  or  standing, 
in  front  or  close  to  us,  alone,  no  noise,  no  company,  not  much 
of  light  nor  of  darkness ;  our  feet  ready  to  immobilize  his  feet, 
our  knees  his  knees,  our  hands  his  head  and  arms.  We  search 
his  eyes  with  our  intense  and  persevering  look — he  tries  to 
escape  it ;  throws  his  body  and  limbs  in  every  direction,  screams 
and  shuts  his  eyes.  All  this  time  we  must  be  calm  and  pre- 
pared, correcting  eccentric  attitudes  and  plunging  our  sight  into 
his  eyes  when  he  chances  to  open  them.  How  long  will  it  take 
to  succeed?  Days,  weeks,  or  months;  it  depends  upon  the 
gravity  of  the  case,  upon  the  help  received  from  the  general 
training,  and  from  other  means  of  fixing  the  attention  of  the 
eye  soon  to  be  exposed.  But  the  main  instrument  in  fixing 
the  regard  is  the  regard.  When  this  does  succeed,  as  soon  as 
our  look  has  taken  hold  of  his,  the  child,  instead  of  taking  cog- 
nizance of  phenomena  by  the  touch  or  smell,  uses  concurrently, 
and  after  a  while  exclusively,  his  newly  acquired  power.  At 
that  time  the  voice  and  commands  will  be  better  understood, 
and  need  not  be  uttered  so  loud,  since  besides  hearing,  the 
child  now  looks  at  us,  and  understands  also  the  meaning  of  our 
words  by  that  of  our  physiognomy. 

But  there  are  many  more  means  of  fixing  the  sight.  We 
need  only  present,  as  in  a  lump,  those  borrowed  from  private 
life,  from  necessities  requiring  more  or  less  the  concourse  of 
8 


114  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

active  sight;  such  as,  if  we  displace  and  remove  a  Httle  far- 
ther from  the  idiot,  every  day,  the  things  ordinarily  used  by 
him  and  for  which  he  was  used  to  look  with  his  hands.  The 
dark  room  is  made  the  theatre  where  light  will  appear  at  in- 
tervals ;  sometimes  representing  geometrical  or  other  con- 
figurations at  other  times  simple  bright  fields  for  the  exhibi- 
tion of  silhouettes,  etc.  The  same  room  serves  to  exhibit 
fire-works  on  a  small  scale,  and  the  kaleidoscope  on  a  large 
one.  This  latter  has  more  treasures  of  combinations  of  colors 
than  imagination  can  conceive.  If  made  of  large  size,  motion- 
less or  moving  by  turns,  single  or  composed  of  two  cylinders 
revolving  in  opposite  directions,  or  one  moving,  the  other 
being  fixed,  it  produces  the  most  wonderful  attraction  for 
the  sight;  the  Institution  has  no  instrument  for  training  su- 
perior to  this.  Now  we  take  again  the  balancing-pole.  It 
was  used  to  create  prehension  and  to  do  away  with  morbid 
sensibility  of  the  fingers ;  in  the  present  case  it  will  serve 
as  a  monitor  to  the  mind,  as  an  urgent  warning  of  impending 
encounter.  If  it  reverberates  smartly  at  first,  the  better  it 
will  call  the  attention  of  the  child,  and  make  him  careful 
to  look  at  the  pole  to  appreciate  when  it  comes,  in  what 
direction,  at  what  rate,  and  how  its  unavoidable  reaction 
may  be  managed  to  save  part  at  least  of  its  hard  contact. 
This  exercise  is  no  more  a  sinecure  for  the  eye  than  it  was  for 
the  hand.  By  these  and  other  means  of  the  kind  we  accom- 
plish our  object  of  moving  the  look,  steadying  the  regard, 
and  deducing  intellectual  consequences  from  what  is  seen. 

When  we  say  that  these  means  and  their  analogues  succeed 
in  giving  an  incipiency  to  voluntary  sight,  we  do  not  mean  to 
convey  the  impression  that  it  suffices  unavoidably  to  touch 
the  retina  with  our  own  sight  or  with'  wondrous  lights,  etc., 
to  make  the  child  begin  to  look  as  by  miracle.  No,  we  do 
not  promise  that ;  because  this  sudden  result  is  the  exception. 
More  ordinarily  the  impression  desired  takes  place  slowly, 
after  series  of  experiments  properly  contrasted.  In  the  more 
refractory  cases,  the  direct  individual  exercises  of  the  look 
are  to  be  alternated  with  long  standings  among  groups  of 
working  children,  whose  various  modes  of  activity  attract 
the  attention  of  the  lower  idiot,  if  not  in  six  months  in  three 
years.     Then  the  use  of  the  sight  begins  to  be  one  of  the 


Physiological  Education.  115 

ekments  of  a  progress  very  limited  indeed,  but  not  less  strik- 
ing that  beneficial.  There  is  scarcely  one  child  as  low  as 
that  in  a  hundred ;  and  lower  idiocy  is  aggravated  by  extensive 
paralysis  or  some  rare  forms  of  insanity. 

When  we  have  secured  the  use  of  this  function,  even  to  the 
smallest  extent,  that  little  must  be  instantly  applied  to  some 
educational  purpose  with  the  help  of  other  instruments 
adapted  to  the  present  incapacity  of  the  child,  to  make  him 
appreciate  the  properties  of  bodies,  which  otherwise  fall 
naturally  under  the  sight  of  ordinary  persons.  These  proper- 
ties to  be  perceived  by  the  sight  with  the  help  of  special 
instruments  are  colors,  forms,  combinations  of  forms,  dimen- 
sions, distances,  plans,  etc. 

Colors  are  taught  in  the  dark  room  with  colored  window- 
panes,  as  in  the  school  at  Syracuse,  or  with  bodies  of  different 
or  similar  colors,  assorting  by  pairs.  Cards,  ribbons,  balls, 
marbles,  samples  of  any  sort  of  colored  objects  will  answer, 
provided  their  similarity  and  dissimilarity  can  be  incessantly 
referred  to  and  tested.  Balls  and  their  receiving  cups  of  the 
same  color,  and  all  sorts  of  contrivances  of  that  kind  for  pair- 
ing colors,  may  be  concurrently  employed;  care  being  taken 
that  in  trying  to  convey  to  the  mind  one  property  of  these 
bodies,  i.  e.,  the  color,  some  other  property  of  the  instrument 
be  not  so  prominent,  its  shape  for  instance,  as  to  attract  the 
whole  attention  of  the  child  to  the  exclusion  of  the  color; 
we  have  seen  that  occur.  The  familiarity  with  colors  once 
acquired  by  these  means  is  to  be  applied  to  things  of  daily  use 
or  enjoyment,  such  as  wearing  apparel,  flowers,  fruits,  etc., 
care  being  taken  to  present  mostly  what  is  neat  to  the  sight 
and  pleasant  to  the  mind. 

Our  appreciation  of  the  shape  of  everything  in  nature  has 
its  foundation  in  the  knowledge  of  a  few  typical  forms  to 
which  we  refer  as  matrices  for  comparison.  The  simplest  of 
them  are  circles,  squares,  triangles,  etc.,  adapting  themselves 
to  their  corresponding  forms  and  to  no  others.  The  child, 
by  contrasting  the  differences,  must  find  the  similarity  of 
these  shapes.  The  same  comparison  must  be  established  be- 
tween solid  forms  and  those  only  painted,  and  between  these 
types  and  the  objects  of  daily  use,  similarly  if  not  identically 
shaped.    The  combination  of  forms  made  up  by  the  juxta,  or 


Ii6  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

superposition  of  objects  is  well  presented  to  the  children  by 
the  blocks  alread}^  employed,  with  which  complex  figures  are 
built  in  plan  or  in  elevation.  Blocks  near  in  form  to  dominoes 
can  illustrate  this  kind  of  combination,  and  will  give  us  an 
opportunity  for  graphic  descriptions  of  some  of  the  exercises 
of  objective  imitation  that  we  have  postponed  to  describe, 
but  which  we  employ  so  profusely  whenever  we  find  it  con- 
venient. 

The  child  being  in  front  of  the  teacher,  a  table  being  be- 
tween them,  a  few  blocks  piled  near  their  right  hands,  the 
teacher  takes  one,  puts  it  flat  before  him  on  the  table,  and 
makes  the  child  do  the  same.  The  T.  puts  his  block  in  various 
positions  relatively  to  the  table  and  to  himself,  and  shows, 
not  directs,  the  C.  to  do  the  same.  The  T.  puts  two  blocks 
in  particular  relative  positions,  and  the  C.  does  the  same  each 
time.  What  was  done  with  two  blocks  is  done  with  three, 
with  four,  with  more,  in  succession,  till  the  exercise  of  simple 
imitation  becomes  quite  intellectual,  requiring  at  least  a  good 
deal  of  attention  and  power  of  combination.  Later,  the  T. 
creates  combinations  of  two  or  more  blocks  at  once,  and  the 
C.  must  imitate  all  of  it  at  once ;  and  finally  the  T.  creates 
a  combination  of  a  few  blocks,  destroys  it,  and  orders  the  C. 
to  build  up  the  like,  whose  pattern  he  now  can  find  only  in 
his  mind. 

To  relieve  the  tension  unavoidable  in  these  exercises,  it 
is  well  to  close  them  by  the  building  on  the  same  principle 
of  walls,  towers,  and  other  easy  fabrics  on  a  large  scale,  at 
which  groups  of  children  will  work  with  eagerness;  and  whose 
sudden  downfall  will  cause  a  happy  excitement.  Once  in 
the  Pennsylvania  Training-School  for  Idiots  at  Germantown, 
we  were  studying  the  case  of  a  child  who  could  not  be  in- 
duced to  move.  The  matter  with  him  was  not  paralysis  nor 
weakness,  but  extreme  apprehension  of  any  contacts  to  be 
encountered  by  displacing  himself.  We  left  him  standing  on 
a  spot,  when  his  friends  began  to  build  one  of  their  high 
towers  of  blocks  around  him ;  he  was  our  prisoner.  A  little 
dismayed  but  unmoved,  he  would  have  stayed  there  till 
doomsday  if  we  had  not  taken  his  hand  through  the  blocks 
and  marched  him  out  of  the  ruins  to  the  delight  of  his  fellows. 
He  alone  was  not  laughing.    But  we  ordered  the  same  thing  to 


Physiological  Education.  117 

t)e  done  with  other  children,  then  with  him  again;  soon  he 
understood  the  game,  took  mildly,  according  to  his  nature, 
his  share  in  the  burst  of  joy,  broke  through  the  building  of 
his  own  slow  impulse,  and  even  soon  helped  in  the  erection 
of  new  ones.  Dating  from  that  event,  he  certainly  became 
more  confident  and  more  deliberate  in  his  movements  and 
actions. 

The  vSize  of  bodies  is  appreciated  by  measurement;  and 
this  effected  by  the  sight,  by  the  hand,  and  by  special  instru- 
ments. The  measurement  by  sight  is  our  present  object,  and 
its  application  to  one  of  the  three  dimensions  will  sufficiently 
show  how  it  applies  to  the  others.  Dealing  with  objects  al- 
ready known,  which  do  not  need  description,  we  use  at  first 
the  French  ]Metre,  whose  divisions  into  tenths  are  rather  more 
sensible  than  those  of  the  yard.  Next  to  a  stick  one  metre 
long  and  divided  on  each  surface  into  ten  decimetres,  we 
put  another  nine  decimetres  long  and  equally  marked,  another 
eight,  another  seven,  till  the  smallest,  which  is  only  one  decimetre 
in  length.  After  commencing  the  comparison  with  two  sticks, 
the  longest  and  shortest,  we  soon  mix  them  all  together  on  the 
floor  or  on  a  table,  we  call  for  them  from  the  smallest  up,  or  from 
the  longest  down,  and  the  child  must  choose  them,  guided 
by  his  sight  alone,  and  range  them  in  order  according  to  their 
size,  verifying  only  by  the  touch  what  he  learned  by  the 
look.  What  he  can  do  with  the  metre  we  try  with  the  yard, 
whose  divisions  into  inches  or  two  inches  will  task  more 
closely  the  compass  of  his  vision.  Nevertheless,  we  are  our- 
selves sometimes  uncertain  in  our  choice  among  so  many 
sticks,  when  the  child  is  not.  Few  old  men  have  been  taught 
to  appreciate  this  knowledge.  Where  this  has  been  recently 
introduced  into  public  schools  from  the  idiot  schools,  it  is 
not  certain  that  it  has  been  presented  more  physiologically 
than  the  exercises  of  personal  imitation. 

The  notion  of  Distance  takes  its  rank  here,  but  only  in 
its  elementary  form.  When  we  want  a  child  to  appreciate 
spaces,  we  separate  things  of  the  same  kind — books,  for  in- 
stance ;  we  place  them  at  different  distances  from  each  other, 
and  we  make  the  child  do  the  same;  first  by  imitation,  next 
by  command.  When  distances  are  to  be  measured  in  a  room, 
from   point  to   point,  from   person  to  person,   or  things,   the 


ii8  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

child  being  the  fixed  branch  of  the  compass  of  measurement, 
the  distant  object  or  point  is  the  moving  extremity  of  the 
same  instrument.  When  this  abstract  instrument  of  measure 
works  well  at  short  distances,  in  a  medium  where  the  points 
of  repair  are  familiar,  such  as  the  window,  the  mantel-piece, 
etc.,  we  transport  it  into  the  open  air,  taking  for  our  points  of 
repair,  the  nearest  trees,  houses,  fences,  etc. 

Of  all  the  properties  perceivable  by  the  sight,  those  of  the 
Plane  are  the  most  difficult  to  acquire,  but  the  most  necessary 
in  education  and  practical  life.  On  a  knowledge  of  the  proper- 
ties of  the  plane  depends  our  successful  walk  or  fall,  the  erec- 
tion of  any  structure,  the  relative  situation  of  the  lines  form- 
ing drawing  and  writing,  the  delineation  of  all  representations 
of  objects  by  carving,  cutting,  modelling,  casting,  and  end- 
less varieties  of  modes  of  expressing  a  meaning  by  lines  on 
surfaces ;  those  lines  idealize  matter.  It  will  not  be,  there- 
fore, a  loss  of  time,  if  we  take  great  trouble  in  giving  the 
idiot  as  clear  an  idea  as  we  can  of  the  plane  in  its  relations 
to  human  work. 

When  a  child  cannot  understand  a  plane,  such  as  the  floor 
or  a  table,  we  know  it  because  he  will  try  to  put  up  things — 
ten-pins,  for  instance,  in  a  variety  of  oblique  attitudes,  more 
or  less  distant  from  the  vertical.  This  error  is  to  be  corrected 
by  letting  down  a  succession  of  plummets  falling  vertically  on 
the  floor  or  table,  between  which  the  child  soon  finds  the  verti- 
cal for  the  pins.  Planes,  level  or  undulated,  are  to  be  made 
by  the  hand,  spade,  spoon,  or  roller,  on  sand,  to  the  great  de- 
light of  the  children.  The  plane  for  writing  or  drawing  is 
studied  by  putting  wafers  on  various  points  of  a  circumscribed 
plane,  and  letting  the  child  do  the  same  on  another;  marking 
and  remarking  exactly  the  centre,  the  corners,  and  other 
prominent  points  of  the  surface.  We  come  nearer  to  the 
idea  of  the  plane  by  touching  with  our  index  finger,  every 
prominent  point  of  a  limited  plane,  such  as  a  slate ;  the  child 
doing  like  us.  When  he  begins  to  succeed  in  this  sight- 
exercise,  we  put  a  pencil  in  his  hand,  we  take  one  in  ours, 
and  we  begin  to  draw  slowly  and  distinctly  a  well  marked 
line  from  one  point  of  the  slate  to  another — say  from  the  top 
to  the  bottom.  This  he  does  also,  with  many  peculiarities  of 
weakness  and  deviation.    He  has  acquired  the  virtual  capacity 


]  Physiological  Education.  119 

to  draw  lines,  but  he  has  not  yet  the  synergy.  In  this  respect, 
the  difference  between  idiots  is  immense.  One  can  lift  a 
weight  of  fifty  pounds  who  cannot  hold  and  direct  a  pen; 
another  can  work  all  the  day  in  the  field  without  great  fatigue, 
who  can  scarcely  read  nor  trace  a  faint  line  on  the  black- 
board without  showing  unmistakable  signs  of  exhaustion.  We 
have  seen  a  child,  otherwise  active,  spend  several  minutes  in 
tracing  down  a  vertical  line  with  chalk;  the  line  was  scarcely 
visible,  though  he  was  helping  his  right  hand  with  his  left 
with  all  his  might;  both  hands  became  so  exhausted  that  they 
were  pearled  with   perspiration. 

The  depreciation  of  force,  not  by  the  straining  quality  of 
the  work  accomplished,-but  by  the  intensity  of  will  employed, 
shown  in  these  cases,  cannot  be  considered  as  peculiar  to 
idiots,  but  only  as  extreme  in  some.  A  teacher  of  Freedman 
in  Tennessee,  writes  to  our  esteemed  friend,  the  Rev.  Samuel 
May,  of  one  of  her  pupils,  a  very  intelligent  colored  black- 
smith, that  three  evenings  after  he  began  to  learn  his  letters, 
he  could  read  correctly  three  pages  in  a  "  Wilson's  Reader;  " 
"  but,"  says  she,  "  the  sweat  ran  off  his  face  as  if  he  were 
working  over  his  anvil."  This  is  enough  to  show  conclusively 
that  we  must  not  calculate  the  abnormal  by  the  normal  inner- 
vation ;  and  that  we  are  to  measure  the  strength  of  idiots  in 
particular,  not  by  our  standard  of  fatigue,  but  by  the  special 
condition  of  waste  of  their  synergy. 

To  recommend  this  almost  maternal  attention  for  bur 
children  we  have  left  them  very  nearly  drawing,  that  is  to 
say,  knowing  how  to  do  it,  trying  to  do  it,  and  yet  unable 
by  want  of  nervous  power.  We  are  now  in  presence  of  a 
nervous  difficulty,  which  can  be  assimilated  to  some  extent 
to  the  deficiency  of  contractibility  which  hindered  our  first 
exercises  of  prehension.  As  we  then  strengthened  the  mus- 
cles, we  must  now  strengthen  the  nerves ;  and  as  in  the  hand 
these  two  sets  of  organs  are  exceptionally  numerous  and  deli- 
cately blended,  if  we  can  submit  the  hand  to  a  series  of  exer- 
cises in  which  the  muscles  will  be  called  into  play  subordi- 
nately,  but  enough  to  corroborate  the  nervous  action  of 
drafting,  we  shall  succeed  in  giving  to  that  function  the  power 
of  exercising  fluently  and  without  faintness  the  meaning  of 
the  mind  and  the  order  of  the  will. 


I20  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

There  is  more  than  one  way  of  modifying  surfaces  by  draw- 
ing. If  pen  or  pencil  can  express  our  meaning  on  surfaces, 
we  may  find  other  instruments  that  will  produce  other  kinds 
of  drawings.  By  them,  new  surfaces  will  be  created  expres- 
sive of  meaning  as  well  as  the  work  of  the  pencil.  Happily 
these  modes  of  drafting,  not  at  the  surface,  but  into  the  very 
substance,  by  creating  new  edges  or  surfaces,  necessitate  the 
employment  of  a  not  inconsiderable  proportion  of  muscular 
contractibility  extremely  favorable  to  the  support  of  the 
nervous  action,  whenever  this  action  is  not  entirely  under 
the  control  of  the  will,  as  at  the  outset  of  the  training  of 
idiots,  and  in  the  medical  treatment  of  similar  disorders. 

This  indication  of  supporting  the  failing  nervous  action 
by  a  certain  degree  of  firmness  in  the  prehension  or  in  the 
grasp,  is  fulfilled  by  the  following  exercises.  We  give  the 
children  plastic  substances,  such  as  soft  sealing-wax,  clay, 
putty,  etc.,  to  shape  into  squares,  rounds,  or  triangles,  or  in 
imitation  of  some  familiar  objects ;  taking  care,  as  everywhere 
else,  to  not  repeat  the  same  exercise  till  it  becomes  stupefying  ; 
but  on  the  contrary  graduating  it  to  favor,  at  the  same  time, 
mental  and  manual  improvement. 

We  put  into  the  hands  of  the  child  a  piece  of  soft  wood 
to  be  whittled  to  certain  marks,  where  the  new  surfaces  cre- 
sted  by  this  action  will  represent  some  known  form  or  objects. 
Soon  we  dispense  with  the  marks  on  the  rough  wood,  and  give 
only  a  pattern  to  be  copied ;  and  later  we  order  such  a  form 
to  be  drawn  from  the  mere  idea  our  command  impresses  in 
his  sensorium.  To  the  knife  succeeds  the  chisel,  the  hatchet, 
the  straight  or  curved  saw;  the  hammer  which  plants  nails 
in  rows  representing  some  delineations;  the  pin  doing  the 
same  work  more  delicately  on  paper;  the  needle  with  colored 
thread  drawing  on  white  muslin  nearl}^  like  a  pencil,  etc. 

The  scissors  are  among  our  favorite  instruments.  Patterns 
of  card  or  wood  are  given,  and  their  likeness  cut  out  from  rags 
or  newspapers:  firstly,  by  application  of  the  pattern  on  the 
paper;  secondly,  by  the  standing  of  the  pattern  in  front  of 
the  child;  thirdly,  by  its  mere  presentation  to  the  sight  and 
withdrawal ;  and  fourthly,  by  the  nomination  of  the  shape 
that  is  to  be  reproduced  from  the  image  evoked  by  the  com- 
mand. 


Physiological  Education.  I2I 

It  is  very  important  not  to  confine  these  exercises  to  indi- 
vidual teaching  any  more  than  is  necessary  for  their  strict 
understanding.  This  understanding  once  acquired,  must  be 
carried  into  group  exercises  of  two  or  three  children  at  first, 
of  many  more  aftervv^ards,  because  when  close  attention  is 
not  so  much  needed,  the  healthy  stimulus  of  competition  must 
be  taken  advantage  of.  For  every  new  progress  to  be  made, 
we  must  give  the  child  the  advantage  of  concentration  result- 
ing from  individual  teaching;  and  for  the  confirmation  of 
the  same,  give  him  the  benefit  of  the  expanded  examples  and 
incitements  inherent  to  group  teaching;  the  mind  will  be 
more  bent  on  its  object  in  the  first,  the  hand  will  be  freer  and 
surer  in  the  second. 

There  is  no  end  to  these  exercises  in  drawing,  which  pre- 
pares the  head  as  well  as  the  hand  for  the  realization  of  ideal 
t3^pes.  When  we  consider  that  among  men  there  is  not  one  in 
a  thousand  who  can  use  his  hands  to  represent  correctly  a 
meaning,  and  that  in  a  trade  like  tailoring  or  millinery,  ex- 
cellence of  draft  is  scarcely  the  attribute  of  one  in  a  hundred, 
we  are  astonished  that  the  lessons  of  substantial  drawing 
taught  to  the  idiots  have  not  yet  been  carried  into  the  pub- 
lic schools,  where  they  could  fill  up  the  tedious  intervals  of 
book-learning.  How  many  young  women  and  men  would  like 
to  exchange  the  knowledge  of  the  height  of  the  highest  peaks 
on  earth  or  moon  against  the  skill  of  cutting  in  paper,  or 
modelling  in  wax,  the  new  ideas  which  daily  die  unshaped  in 
their  minds,  for  want  of  power  of  realization  by  their  hands. 

This  ability  to  represent  ideas  by  solid  drafting  is  so  natural 
to  some  idiots,  that  among  them  and  among  cretins  are  found 
excellent  draftsmen,  either  in  the  general  sense,  or  in  some 
specialty.  But  without  aiming  at  such  superiority  for  the 
bulk  of  our  children,  we  shall  be  contented  if  we  can  bring 
their  hands  to  the  point  of  expressing  some  simple  ideas  of 
form ;  and  even  if  only  partially  successful  in  this  intellectual 
attainment,  we  have  given  to  their  hands  the  firmness  and  the 
precision  necessary  to  draw  and  to  write. 

Then,  and  not  before,  we  can  put  with  confidence  a  pencil 
in  the  hand  of  our  pupil,  which  he  will  seize  like  us,  with 
the  understanding  and  the  will  of  making  something  come 
out  of  it  by  im.itation  at  first.    He  puts  his  hand  on  the  black- 


122  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

board  armed  with  the  chalk  as  we  place  ours ;  his  eye  looking 
at  us  and  at  the  board  alternately,  as  if  asking  for  a  command ; 
this  is  given.  We  trace  a  line,  neat,  straight,  in  a  precise 
direction ;  he  does  the  same.  We  trace  a  second,  a  third,  a 
fourth,  he  also ;  he  imitates  all  our  movements ;  the  chalk  in 
his  fingers  leaves  the  trace  of  these  movements :  that  is  the 
imitatory  drawing  on  the  part  of  the  child.  On  our  part,  what 
must  it  be?  The  successive  production  of  simple,  straight 
lines  in  combinations  which  imply  simple  relations  between 
them ;  relations  which  will  soon  give  to  this  material  imitation 
an  intellectual  meaning. 

To  this  efifect  we  create  the  lines,  all  but  the  first,  which 
must  be  a  horizontal  or  a  vertical,  in  relation  with  others. 
For  instance,  a  vertical  line  being  laid,  we  start  one,  two, 
or  three  horizontal  ones  from  it,  sometimes  from  right  to 
left,  sometimes  from  left  to  right.  Parallels  must  always  be 
supported  in  this  wise;  and  oblique  lines  cannot  be  taught 
before  the  two  preceding  are  well  executed  to  support  the 
oblique  at  its  extremities,  forming  a  triangle ;  and  soon  our 
pupil  is  unconsciously  drawing  quite  complicated  figures  out 
of  these  connected  straight  lines.  But  before  this  exercise 
passes  from  the  domain  of  attentive  imitation  to  inattentive 
routine,  we  make  two  of  these  connected  lines  at  once;  the 
child  must  do  the  same ;  we  make  a  combination  of  three  lines; 
he  must  execute  it  similarly  as  a  whole.  After  this  we  draw 
a  combination  of  lines,  we  show  it  to  the  child,  we  efiface  it, 
and  he  must  reproduce  it  by  his  sole  power  of  imaginative 
memor3^ 

At  a  certain  stage  of  these  exercises,  which  can  be  better 
appreciated  in  practice  for  each  child  than  in  theory  for  all 
of  them,  the  knowledge  of  the  curved  line  is  to  be  introduced. 
This  must  take  place  when  the  straight  one  has  acquired 
sufficient  correctness  to  be  above  possible  confusion.  We 
teach  the  curves  in  various  ways.  As  if  it  were  nothing  more 
than  a  harmonious  deviation  of  the  straight  line,  we  support 
both  ends  of  the  former  on  the  ends  of  the  latter.  We  try 
to  excite  the  perception  of  the  undulations  inherent  to  all 
curves  by  repeated  examples  of  the  same.  When  the  child  is 
called  to  draw  curves,  numerous  copies  of  these  lines  are 
laid  before  his  sight  on  the  board,  and  under  the  appreciation 


Physiological  Education.  123. 

of  his  touch  in  solid  figures.    But  when  the  difficulty  seems  to 
rest  more  with  the  mechanism  of  drawing  than  with  its  under- 
standing, we  overcome  that  difficulty  by  making  the   child 
draw  curves  between  two  circles,  traced  or  even  solid,  one 
mside  of  the  other,  five  or  six  inches  apart,  leaving  between 
them  a  space  for  the  child  to  wind  up  his  curves  like  an 
endless  thread.     Considering  ourself  or  the  child  like  a  com- 
pass, whose  fixed  branch  is  the  body,  whose  movable  branch 
is  the  arm,  we  and  he  soon  trace  within  those  two  limiting 
circles  perfect  curves.    Indeed,  he  succeeds  so  well  that  before 
long  we  have  to  put  him  to  the  practice  of  the  straight  Hnes 
again,  for  fear  that  he  should  curve  after  this  every  line  he 
draws.    When  these  two  elements  of  drawing,  the  right  and 
curved  lines,  are  well  understood  separately,  they  are  used  in 
combination  to  produce  an  unHmited  variety  of  figures,  among 
which  the  representation  of  our  letters  has  appeared   more 
than  once ;  so  that  the  child  writes  already  by  imitation  with- 
out suspecting  it. 

At  this  period  the  illimited  and  rather  fantastic  drawing 
by  imitation  is  set  aside,  long  enough  to  repress  its  unmean- 
ing exuberance,  but  not  enough  to  let  the  hand  and  sight 
forget  their  quickness  at  it.  We  set  the  child  to  draw  letters 
after  us,  each  letter  as  a  whole,  without  analyzing  fts  parts,' 
and  when  he  has  written  a  number  of  them,  we  show  to  him 
the  like  printed,  and  name  them,  so  that  he  could  name  them 
himself.  After  we  have  written,  compared,  and  named  a  few 
groups  of  them  in  a  certain  order,  we  take  care  to  use  every 
ingenuity  that  our  mind  can  suggest  to  vary  that  order,  for 
fear  that  lazy  memory  should  attach  the  idea  or  the  name 
of  the  letters,  not  to  their  forms,  but  to  the  place  they  occupy. 
It  is  incredible  how  many  ordinary  children  fall  into  that 
mistaken  application  of  memotechny,  caused  by  exaggerated 
reliance  on  localization. 

Contrarily  to  school  practice,  and  agreeably  to  nature,  our 
letters  are  to  be  written  before  being  read.  But  soon  both 
exercises  are  mingled  together,  unless  for  some  special  object 
we  effect  a  momentary  separation,  easily  detected  in  the  fol- 
lowing exposition. 

Our  method  proper  of  teaching  writing  and  reading  does  not 
diflFer  from  what  has  been  previously  said ;  we  take  advantage 


124  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

here  of  differences,  there  of  analogies,  in  form  as  well  as  in 
sound,  to  enforce  the  meaning  of  each  by  its  correlative :  in  this 
respect  our  training  is,  not  so  much  one  of  memory,  as  one 
of  comparison.  The  instruments  of  the  method  are  many. 
We  have  seen  the  best  of  all  in  operation;  it  is  the  hand,  cre- 
ating its  owrn  reading  matter.  But  we  shall  use  concurrently 
the  following  appliances,  with  others  too  numerous  to 
mention. 

We  use  two  alphabets,  one  solid,  the  other  printed ;  the 
first  adapting  itself  to  the  shape  of  the  second,  the  second 
on  cards,  easily  placed  or  displaced,  on  a  frame  in  columns, 
in  groups,  or  scattered.  The  very  lowest  beginners  when 
they  have  distinguished  a  circle  from  a  square,  can  be  put 
to  this  alphabet.    We  proceed  in  this  wise : 

The  child  is  placed  before  our  alphabet-board ;  we  put  before 
him  the  three  letters  /,  O,  A,  in  relief,  and  the  same  printed  on 
cards  are  set  in  the  board.  We  give  him  the  solid  /,  at  the  same 
time  that  we  name  it,  to  be  placed  on  the  painted  one.  He 
may  either  let  it  drop,  or  put  it  on  another  printed  letter, 
or  put  it  on  the  proper  letter,  but  improperly,  or  he  may 
superpose  it  correctly,  in  which  latter  case  the  exercise  is 
continued  without  interruption.  The  failures  above  referred 
to  are  corrected :  the  first  by  making  him  pick  up  the  dropped 
letter  till  he  puts  it  down  in  its  place  rationally  and  willingly; 
the  second  by  ourselves  covering  severally  each  printed  letter 
with  its  solid  similar,  to  show  him  well  the  modus  operandi;  the 
third  by  patiently  correcting  the  wrong  superpositions ;  and 
better  yet,  by  directing  and  teaching  gently  with  our  hands, 
his  fingers  to  do  that  correction.  At  every  movement  of  his 
or  of  ours,  we  have  been  naming  with  emphasis  the  letter 
moved.  All  the  letters  have  been  presented  in  series  formed 
in  view  of  apposing  their  difference  and  analogy  of  form ;  as 
L  to  Q  by  contrast ;  O  to  Q  by  similarity,  etc. 

Without  leaving  to  these  actions  and  new  impressions  of 
difference  and  analogy  of  form,  the  time  to  be  effaced,  we 
change  the  order  of  the  solid  letters  on  the  table,  and  of  the 
printed  ones  on  the  board,  and  we  ask  him  for  the  solid  O; 
which,  being  given  by  the  child,  we  ourselves  carefully  super- 
pose to  the  printed  one.  Then  again  changing  the  order  of 
the  two  series  of  letters,  we  ask  for  A,  for  D,  for  O,  again 


Physiological  Education.  125 

and  again  till  he  gives  them  without  mistake.  When  the 
child  is  mute  and  not  deaf,  our  teaching  of  reading  cannot 
go  farther.  Otherwise  at  this  time  we  begin  to  point  out  one 
of  the  three  letters ;  he  names  it,  and  pairs  it  with  its  like. 
This  is  only  passive  reading,  would  suggest  the  critic.  Yes, 
mostly  or  nearly  so.  But  is  not  this  quasi-passivity  an  im- 
provement on  not  reading  at  all ;  and  cannot  it  be  made  the 
beginning  of  spontaneous  reading?  That  is  the  question.  All 
our  present  training  tends  to  that  result. 

There  is  no  necessity  of  following  this  plan  here  farther 
than  the  letters ;  nor  of  describing  the  various  reading- 
machines  which  may  be  found  in  all  class-rooms,  and  are  used 
once  in  a  while  when  their  peculiar  ingenuity  meets  the 
peculiar  difficulties  of  a  case  of  idiocy.  The  alphabet  above 
described  would  not  itself  deserve  to  be  recollected  if  its 
virtue  were  limited  to  the  teaching  of  reading.  Its  specific 
value  resides  in  the  power  of  giving  accuracy  to  the  sight;  its 
letters  being  presented  by  our  method  to  this  sense  in  all 
their  relations  of  analogy  and  difference  of  shape,  with  this 
special  object  in  view. 

The  small  cards,  bearers  of  a  single  syllable  or  word;  the 
large  cards  showing  whole  series  of  the  same,  monosyllables  in 
columns,  or  scattered  in  various  orders,  are  more  practical  for 
reading.  Those  we  used  twenty-eight  years  ago  could  not 
be  found  anywhere,  and  were  of  our  own  manufacture; 
images  corresponding  to  them  were  printed  expressly  for 
our  children  by  the  kindness  of  a  friend;  previous  to  1840 
there  was  no  such  thing  that  we  were  acquainted  with.  These 
cards  have  since  spread  everywhere ;  and  images  for  children 
are  plenty,  if  not  always  appropriate  to  reading  and  repre- 
sentation lessons.  Nevertheless  since  so  many  years  the 
method  and  its  means  and  instruments  have  progressed  in 
skilful  hands. 

Confining  ourselves  at  first  to  individual  teaching,  we  use 
the  small  cards  with  a  monosyllable  or  short  word  on  each, 
as  letters  have  been  in  our  alphabet  for  passive  lessons  in  the 
beginning,  for  active  reading  with  speech  as  soon  as  we  can, 
always  observing  the  rule  of  changing  frequently  the  order  of 
situation,  and  nomination  as  well.     Exactly  in  the  same  man- 


126  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

ner,  the  teaching  of  polysyllabic   words   follow  that  of  the 
monosyllabic;  this  is  the  rational  progression. 

But,  considering  that  the  method  of  Jacotot,  introduced 
into  the  United  States  by  R.  W.  Emerson,  and  into  the  N.  Y. 
State  Asylum  for  Idiots  by  Dr.  Wilbur,  disregards  the  teach- 
ing of  the  alphabet  as  introductory  to  reading,  and  is  in  suc- 
cessful application  in  Syracuse,  we  would  not  have  insisted 
upon  the  necessity  of  maintaining  the  old  divisions  were  it 
not  that  their  slowness  in  teaching  to  read  does  not  impede 
nor  diminish  their  importance  as  instruments  of  acuteness, 
to  give  precision  to  the  sight.  And  as  our  fundamental  object 
is  not  so  much  the  teaching  of  one  thing  or  of  another,  as 
the  furtherance  of  each  function  and  its  utmost  elevation  in 
the  rank  of  intellectual  power,  we  have  kept  the  old  series 
of  comparisons  elicited  from  the  letters  and  monosyllables 
as  one  of  our  best  sensorial  exercises.  Otherwise,  subse- 
quently to  the  demonstration  of  the  practice  of  Syracuse, 
reading  is  taught  first  as  last  by  words.  The  word  written 
is  read,  the  word  pronounced  is  written;  the  speech  flies  like 
the  thought,  writing  immobolizes  and  perpetuates  both. 

Before  proceeding  farther  we  resume  the  exercises  involved 
in  reading.  Cries  have  been  converted  by  music  into  voices ; 
articulation  was  derived  from  personal  imitation  concen- 
trated in  the  organs  of  speech  by  mimicry ;  speech  was  treated 
as  a  combination  of  voice  and  articulation  enforced  by  wants ; 
writing  was  deduced  from  objective  imitation;  reading  was 
the  result  of  the  combination  of  both  speech  and  writing; 
letters  are  taught  only  as  a  study  of  contrast  and  analogy 
between  their  shapes  or  between  their  sounds ;  reading  begins 
by  words,  each  word  having  a  shape  or  configuration,  a  name, 
and  a  meaning:  hence  solidarity  is  established  between  writ- 
ing, reading,  speaking,  and  soon  understanding;  so  that  the 
learning  of  one  of  them  carries  with  it  the  knowledge  of  all. 
Written  words  are  presented  according  to  their  difiference  or 
analogy  of  form ;  the  teacher  names  them  and  the  child  points 
them  out  or  writes  them.  Words  pronounced  by  the  teacher 
are  written  by  the  child ;  series  of  words  are  formed  according 
to  certain  similarity  or  difference  in  their  letters;  other 
series  are  formed  according  to  certain  difference  and  analogy 
in  their  sounds  when  spoken.     We  said  every  word  has  a 


Physiological  Education.  127 

meaning;  to  write  and  to  read  implies  the  understanding  of 
that  meaning;  everything  short  of  it  is  an  imposition  by  the 
teacher,  or  an  infirmity  of  the  pupil :  let  us  remember  this, 
since  we  shall  presently  begin  to  teach  more  especially  read- 
ing proper. 

Words  such  as  bread,  apple,  hook,  are  put  on  cards  before  the 
child,  and  read  by  us  aloud.  Their  order  is  changed,  they 
are  read  again,  and  the  child  is  invited  to  put  his  index  upon 
each  word  named.  The  order  of  the  position  of  the  words 
and  of  their  nomination  is  alternated  at  each  turn,  so  that 
he  can  derive  no  remembrance  from  place  or  series;  but  must 
receive  his  ideas  from  the  word  itself.  When  they  are  named, 
the  very  objects,  bread,  apple,  and  book,  are  placed  on  the 
table  in  presence  of  their  printed  or  written  names,  and  are 
pronounced  also  in  this  manner:  ist.  We  say  "bread,"  he 
must  show  the  bread  and  appose  it  to  its  written  name. 
2d.  We  show  a  piece  of  bread,  he  must  say  "  bread,"  and  put 
the  word  bread  on  the  piece.  3d.  We  show  him  the  written 
name,  he  must  show  us  the  piece  and  give  the  name,  etc. 

When  one  of  these  three  names  is  known,  we  put  a  new 
one  in  its  place  in  that  series,  or  we  form  entirely  new  series. 
When  the  object  itself  cannot  be  procured,  its  image  will 
do  even  if  imperfect;  for  it  is  wonderful  how  the  power  of 
imagining  of  children,  even  of  idiots,  soars  above  our  feeble 
power  of  imagery.  This  juxtaposition  or  even  identification 
of  the  three,  four,  or  five  forms  of  things,  i.  e.,  their  names 
written,  printed  and  pronounced,  their  images  printed  and 
carved,  and  their  own  selves  in  substance,  such  are  the  forcible 
instruments  by  which  the  first  ideas  may  be  forced  through 
the  senses  into  the  mind.  Thus  let  us  open  to  our  pupil,  by 
reading,  the  possession  of  everything  which  comes  within  the 
range  of  his  prehension  and  comprehension;  nature  is  his 
book,  and  his  fingers  are  the  printers. 

On  this  capital  point  let  us  acknowledge  that  we  are  too 
prone  to  continue  farther  than  is  necessary  the  process  of 
passive  teaching  required  at  the  outset.  We  too  often  act 
or  speak  when  the  child  might  have  acted  or  spoken  him- 
self if  we  had  more  insisted  upon  his  doing  it;  given  him  a 
little  time  instead  of  hurrying;  supported  his  hesitation 
instead  of  prompting  him;   and  given   no  hint  but   a  kind, 


128  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

encouraging  look;  this  warning  cannot  be  too  strongly- 
impressed,  neither  the  next.  This  is  against  the  teaching 
per  ahsurdum,  favorite  with  professors  and  transferred  into 
the  Institution  by  our  teacher,  unsuspecting  its  bad  influence. 
She  spreads  before  her  pupil  a  dozen  of  words  on  cards,  and 
pointing  with  her  finger  to  the  word  mother,  for  instance,  if 
the  child  does  not  make  it  out  and  remains  silent,  she  points 
to  it  again,  saying,  "What  is  that?  Is  it  father?"  and  the 
child  w411  very  likely  mutter  the  word  father,  to  the  great 
mortification  of  his  teacher.  But  the  apparent  mischief 
is  only  a  particle  of  the  real  one;  the  error  is  to  be,  and  is 
corrected;  the  child  will  read  the  word  mother;  but  who  will 
give  him  back  the  trust  that  he  had  in  his  teacher  previous 
to  that  false  nomination?  Henceforth,  each  time  that  she 
explains  or  affirms  an3^thing  to  him,  he  will  look  and  listen 
suspiciously  to  know  if  there  be  not  a  snare  where  the  good 
girl  puts  her  most  candid  interpretation;  distrust  has  sneaked 
in  where  confidence  should  have  reigned;  let  us  be  candid 
with  our  simple  children,  if  we  want  to  teach  them  not  reading 
alone,  but  truthfulness. 

Next  to  this  active,  but  close  and  attentive  reading  of 
the  individual  child,  is  the  other,  off-hand  and  rotatory,  in 
which  a  written  word  passes  from  hand  to  hand,  and  is  pro- 
nounced successively  aloud.  Though  this  is  incontestably  a 
reading  lesson,  it  stimulates  more  the  function  of  the  voice 
to  read  aloud  than  that  of  the  sight  to  read  attentively.  To 
make  it  efiFective  it  must  go  rapidly  on,  and  emit  by  the  stimu- 
lus of  example  a  large  volume  of  voices  exciting  one  another ; 
if  well  conducted,  the  children  are  particularly  delighted 
with  it. 

Individual  and  group  reading  must  be  alternated,  begin- 
ning with  the  first.  Individual  reading  may  be  more  insisted 
upon  in  cool,  mild  weather,  and  in  the  morning  when  atten- 
tion causes  no  effort,  and  is  not  exhausted;  on  stormy  days 
and  in  the  afternoon,  dulness  is  prevented  from  settling  down 
upon  the  class-room  by  group  teachings :  where  a  child  alone 
would  but  express  himself  languidly,  children  will  support 
each  other  in  vocal  action. 

But  in  reading  as  in  all  intellectual  operations  which  take 
place  immediately  through  the  senses,  we  have  to  distinguish 


Physiological  Education.  129 

for  the  perfection  of  the  teaching,  the  function  from  the 
faculty.  This  temporary  analysis  favors  the  development  of 
the  two  aspects  of  the  same  capacity.  By  striving  to  give  at 
the  start  correct  perception  through  a  sense,  we  insure  correct 
impressions  to  the  sensorium,  impressions  which  will  be  the 
premises  of  sound  judgment  for  the  mind.  What  is  called 
error,  scarcely  ever  depends  upon  false  conclusions  of  the 
intellect,  but  mostly  on  false  premises  gotten  from  incorrect 
perceptions;  so  that  the  faculty  of  judging  is  not  so  often  the 
culprit,  as  is  the  function  of  observation;  what  is  badly  seen 
is  wrongly  judged  of;  and  our  future  is  too  often  the  stake  we 
pay  for  the  error  of  our  senses.  It  is  nearly  certain  that  the 
good  though  limited  common  sense  shown  by  the  idiots  educated 
since  more  than  twenty  years,  must  be  to  a  great  extent  attributed 
to  the  particular  pains  taken  to  give  them  correct  perceptions, 
and  consequent  ideas,  through  the  physiological  method,  particu- 
larly in  reading. 

We  come  now  to  the  subject-matter  of  reading.  Though 
the  subject  of  reading  lessons  must  be  of  interest  to  the 
child,  it  must  not  be  so  familiar,  except  at  the  outset,  as  to 
lead  him,  by  association,  to  the  utterance  of  words  not  at  the 
time  before  his  eyes;  for  in  this  train  imagination,  memory, 
or  desire  would  substitute  their  objects  to  the  reading  matter. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  subject  of  the  reading  must  not 
be  too  much  above  the  comprehension  and  the  habits  of 
the  mind  to  be  taught,  otherwise  the  lesson,  besides  its 
mechanical  object,  would  proffer  no  stimulus,  through  curi- 
osity, to  intelligence. 

But  if  it  is  difficult  to  choose  reading-matter  fitted  to 
ordinary  children's  minds,  how  much  more  difficult  it  must  be 
for  idiots.  Aware  of  this  difficulty,  in  the  first  lessons  in 
reading,  we  have  been  confining  our  teaching  to  persons, 
objects,  and  feelings  strictly  appreciable  by  the  idiot.  His 
reading  has  been  one  of  nomination,  whose  series  begins  at 
the  point  of  comprehension  where  we  find  him  every  morn- 
ing, ending  soon  where  he  ceases  to  understand.  Inside  of 
that  range,  we  make  him  nominate  by  writing,  reading,  and 
spontaneous  appellation  everything  that  he  can  comprehend ; 
and  we  treat  him,  in  respect  to  the  identity  of  knowledge  with 
nomination,    as    our   first   father   was    treated.      "The    Lord 


130  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

God  formed  every  beast  of  the  field,  and  every  fowl  of  the 
air,  and  brought  them  unto  Adam  to  see  what  he  would 
call  them;  and  whatsoever  Adam  called  every  living  crea- 
ture, that  was  the  name  thereof." — Genesis  iiriQ.  Therefore, 
ah  initio,  there  has  been  no  presentation  of  new  objects,  i.  e. 
discovery,  without  instant  nomination ;  no  nomination  which 
was  not  simultaneovis  with  discovery.  In  the  same  spirit 
of  identity,  whatsoever  we  name  a  new  object,  when  first 
presenting  it  to  an  idiot,  that  is  for  him  the  name  thereof. 
He  had  the  perception  of  the  object,  we  give  him  its  name ; 
and  the  correlation  of  both  abides  in  his  mind  as  identifica- 
tion of  the  image  and  name,  elementary  idea  or  notion. 

Such  is  the  teaching  of  nomination  by  writing,  reading,  and 
speaking,  which  has  arrested  us  so  long;  and  which  will  be 
terminated  when  we  shall  know  the  name  of  everything  that 
is,  and  is  to  be. 

Trusting  to  the  biblical  narrative  farther,  we  see  that  our 
parents  w^ere  not  instructed  as  to  the  qualities  of  things,  but 
permitted  to  appreciate  them  all,  except  those  of  a  single 
tree,  of  which  they  were  forbidden  to  eat  under  penalty  of 
death.  Whatever  has  been  the  cost  of  their  transgression, 
henceforth  every  generation,  distrusting  past  experience, 
wants  to  appreciate  the  qualities  of  things  with  its  own  instru- 
ments of  perception;  and  observation,  not  trust,  became  the 
foundation  of  all  Science.  The  idiot,  if  he  can  only  move  about, 
is  no  more  ready  to  rest  satisfied  than  his  mother  was.  If 
we  put  a  pippin  or  a  crabapple  before  him,  tell  him  which 
is  sweet  and  which  is  sour,  he  will  not  know  it  till  he  has 
bitten  at  both ;  that  is  Knowledge.  At  the  present  point  of  the 
training,  we  must  take  advantage  of  this  natural  instinct, 
and  bend  all  our  efforts  to  give  accuracy  to  the  appreciative 
capabilities  of  our  pupil.  The  notion,  or  knowledge  of 
identity  of  things,  given  with  the  name,  like  a  baptism,  suf- 
fices but  an  instant  to  human  curiosity.  The  lowest  idiot  is 
not  content  with  distinguishing  a  round  or  a  square ;  he 
wants  to  touch  it,  or  lick  it,  to  discover  if  it  be  besides  rough 
or  sweet;  in  fact,  if  it  has  other  qualities  than  those  of  shape. 
Can  we  shut  our  eyes  to  this  lesson;  and  must  we  not  try, 
after  having  taught  the  identification  by  nomination,  to  teach 


Physiological  Education.  131 

the  appreciation  of  properties  by  a  systematic  study  of 
qualities? 

The  quahties  to  be  studied  mostly  in  reading  are  of  differ- 
ent orders.  Those  perceived  in  our  previous  gymnastics  of 
the  senses,  particularly  the  pleasant  ones,  may  be  first 
employed,  but  not  indulged  in,  longer  than  necessary  to 
fashion  the  analytical  power  of  the  child.  Contrarily,  we 
reserve  our  absolute  exclusion  for  the  qualifications  founded 
upon  would-be  science,  and  definitions  more  Greek  than  sen- 
sible. They  abound  in  books  written  to  spread  the  otherwise 
excellent  system  of  object  lessons.  The  definition  of  the 
horse  reproduced  by  Dickens  in  "  Hard  Times,"  to  show 
how  idiots  might  be  made  in  England  and  elsewhere,  would 
correct  this,  if  pedantry  could  be  cured. 

In  object  lessons  as  practised  for  idiots  since  1837,  the 
intellectual  and  moral  qualities  and  bearings  have  always 
been  made  prominent  above  the  more  physical  properties  of 
objects.  This  has  been  insisted  upon  in  our  books  and  prac- 
tice for  nearly  thirty  years,  as  elevating  the  character  of  the 
training  and  preparing  the  child  for  the  moralities  as  well  as 
for  the  materialities  of  life.  After  seeing  how  animals  enjoy 
hours  of  nature's  harmonies,  who  could  name  the  brute  which 
does  not  see  in  the  grass  anything  more  than  food ;  and  after 
seeing  the  look  of  a  calf  at  his  mother,  think  that  it  loves 
her  only  for  her  milk?  Material  education  alone  can  make 
a  child  see  only  the  "  old  man  "  in  his  father  coming  home 
with  the  provisions  earned  by  his  day's  labor;  and  the  "old 
woman  "  in  the  worn-out  creature  who  has  watched  him  by 
night,  worked  for  him  by  day,  till  her  heart  alone  is  beautiful. 
He  is  not  a  teacher  who  cannot  make  the  most  material  fact 
transude  its  morality,  as  the  almond  does  its  oil  under  intel- 
ligent and  warm  pressure.  He  is  a  teacher  who  cannot  see 
a  pod  of  peas  without  opening  it  by  its  spiritual  articulation, 
letting  out  of  it  as  much  food  for  the  mind  of  his  children  as 
there  was  for  the  body  in  the  seven  loaves  and  fishes. 

If  we  insist  so  much  upon  the  moral  turn  to  be  given  to 
the  part  occupied  by  the  system  of  object  lessons,  or  quali- 
fication lessons  in  our  method,  we  shall  insist  not  the  less 
upon  our  disavowing  all  paternity  of  this  same  system.  We 
found  it  working  in  the  hands  of  Itard.     Pestalozzi  applied 


132  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

it  at  the  suggestion  of  Jean  Paul  Richter,  who  might  have 
been  its  originator  if  he  had  not  read  of  it  in  Rousseau.  This 
is  the  simple  truth  about  the  origin  of  the  object  system  which 
could  not  be  found  in  the  "  Home  and  Colonial  Schools  "  of 
England,  nor  in  Oswego  prior  to  its  application  at  Bicetre 
and  Syracuse.  In  our  estimation,  founded  upon  personal  prac- 
tice, the  object  lesson,  or  to  speak  more  correctly,  the  qualifica- 
tion lesson,  derives  its  most  important  advantages  from  its 
degree  of  idealization.  In  the  hands  of  teachers  who  feel  noth- 
ing but  matter,  it  is  a  very  lowering  instrument;  in  those  of  a 
teacher  who  loves  to  disengage  an  idea  from  its  husk,  it  is  an 
effulgent  means  of  elevation,  Who  could  tell  the  difference 
between  the  child  taught  to  remember  the  names  of  the 
ultimate  substances  contained  in  a  vegetable,  and  the  one 
taught  to  produce  it;  or  between  one  taught  to  produce  it  for 
the  satisfaction  of  his  own  appetite,  and  another  doing  the 
same  for  the  support  of  children  more  destitute  than  himself. 

One  of  the  properties  of  things  is  to  be  in  isolation  or 
in  collection ;  and  in  virtue  of  the  law  of  contrast,  it  is  impos- 
sible for  us  to  feel  with  any  of  our  senses  any  one  thing 
alone ;  one  is  felt  because  some  other  thing  is  felt  as  being  or 
not  being  next  to  it.  The  first  notion  of  ego  implies  the 
existence  of  a  nan  ego;  these  are  complimentary  terms, 
numerically  speaking,  one  and  two.  We  cannot  compare  two 
terms  without  finding  their  comparison,  third  term  which 
makes  three ;  and  from  the  binary  and  trinary  combinations 
issue  mathematics. 

The  greater  number  of  idiots  cannot  count  three,  though 
among  them,  or  more  properly  speaking  among  imbeciles,  are 
found  children  wonderfully  skilled  in  the  mechanical  arrange- 
ment of  figures  and  in  calculations  of  various  sorts.  This 
automatic  genius  does  not  belong  to  them  as  a  class,  nor 
imply  in  its  rare  possessors  any  susceptibility  to  general 
improvement.  We  teach  idiots  numeration  with  objects  and 
qualities  more  than  with  figures ;  and  C5^phering  with  both ; 
fractions  in  particular  are  all  substantiated.  But  between  the 
extreme  of  simpleton  mathematicians  and  the  majority  of 
idiots  who  realize  only  very  limited  combinations  of  numbers, 
children  are  found  whose  idiocy  being  due  to  deficiency  of 
perception  more  than  of  understanding  proper,  take  in  the 


Physiological  Education.  133 

course  of  their  training  a  healthy  mental  growth,  capable  of 
being  applied  to  many  objects  of  learning,  mathematics  among 
others.  These  children  are  easily  distinguished  from  puny 
prodigies  by  a  general,  not  a  special  adaptation  of  their 
newly  acquired  faculties.  They  were  affected  with  exten- 
sive paralysis  and  contractures ;  or  deprived  from  birth  of 
steadiness  of  touch,  or  sight,  or  of  hearing;  or  simply  they 
were  arrested  in  their  development  by  superficial  idiocy.  One 
of  our  pupils  in  the  hospital  of  the  "Incurables/'  in  1842, 
M ,  and  Nattie  and  Willie  in  the  New  York  State  Asy- 
lum, all  three  very  degraded  before  admission,  proved  to  be  of 
that  class.  When  the  impediments  to  their  perceptions  were 
removed,  their  minds  shone  brightly,  the  more  so  if  we  take 
into  account  the  effect  of  their  incapacitation  from  infancy. 
These  children  are  worse  treated  by  their  infirmities  than 
others,  because  they  seem  conscious  of  the  impediment  which 
keeps  them  down.  They  deserve,  if  possible,  more  care  and 
judicious  training  than  any  other  class ;  unfortunately  it  is 
too  easy  to  leave  them  below  the  point  of  their  natural  aspira- 
tions, because  the  means  of  intellectual  communication  with 
them  are  difficult  to  establish  and  painful  to  sustain.  On 
the  other  hand  it  is  too  tempting  to  develop  in  them,  as  in 
show-boys,  the  power  of  mathematics,  of  music,  or  of 
mechanics,  to  make  them  stars  among  the  clouds  of  idiocy  at 
the  expense  of  the  even  and  useful  perfectioning  of  their  gen- 
eral capacity. 

Concurrently  with  being  made  familiar  with  ideas  of  names, 
qualifications,  and  numbers,  idiots  need  to  receive  a  distinct 
idea  of  what  actions  mean.  Men  and  things  are  constantly 
connected  and  disconnected  by  actions ;  and  we  express  these 
actions  by  verbs.  If  one  child  does  not  understand  the  mean- 
ing of  the  grammatical  verb  we  can  make  him  understand 
action  by  ours  or  his  own.  For  instance  we  have  an  idiot  and 
an  apple  before  us.  We  write  the  name  of  the  child  and  the 
word  apple  on  the  black-board,  leaving  some  room  between 
the  two  words,  and  we  put  the  child  near  enough  to  the  apple 
to  enable  him  to  act  in  relation  with  it.  Then  we  write  be- 
tween the  two  words  the  verb  "  take,"  and  he  takes  the  apple. 
We  successively  write,  "  let  go,"  "  roll,"  "  raise,"  etc. ;  the  child 
does  with  the  apple  all  the  actions  indicated  by  these  written 


134  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

and  changing  verbs.  Then  one  idiot  writes  the  verbs  and 
another  does  the  actions,  always  establishing  all  the  possible 
associations  between  the  subject  and  the  object,  by  the  inter- 
ference of  as  many  verbs  as  possible,  and  of  as  many  children 
as  we  can,  to  render  the  exercise  lively  and  active  without 
confusion. 

The  circle  of  these  actions  is  much  extended  as  soon  as 
the  pupil  is  able  to  understand  the  relations  established  by 
prepositions.  No  illustrations  could  do  it  more  felicitously 
than  those  engraved  in  Sadler's  "  Partique  de  la  Langue  Fran- 
^aise."  This  simple  woodcut,  expressing  the  relative  situa- 
tion of  birds  in  connection  with  a  cage,  was  pointed  out  to 
us  by  Dr.  Wilbur  as  the  best  means  of  teaching  the  preposi- 
tion to  idiots,  and  we  have  no  doubt  that  he  has  by  this  time 
realized,  on  a  large  scale,  the  miniature  teaching  of  preposi- 
tions which  pleased  us  so  much  in  that  book.  To  teach  this 
part  of  speech  in  our  old  way,  to  appropriate  words,  written 
on  the  black-board,  are  connected  with  successive  prepositions, 
each  one  expressing  a  relation  that  the  child  must  establish, 
and  which  is  written,  as  was  done  previously  for  the  verb. 

Pronouns  are  to  be  substituted  for  nouns,  and  articles  for 
numbers  as  often  as  necessary  to  their  comprehension.  Par- 
ticiples are  nothing  but  adjectives,  and  treated  practically  as 
such.  Adverbs  are  another  sort  of  adjectives  applied  to  verbs. 
Interjections  are  taught  practically  by  transferring  to  the 
black-board  those  which  come  out  naturally  from  the  chest. 
Interrogations  are  understood  by  being  answered.  In  these 
matters  the  danger  is  not  to  teach  too  little,  but  too  much ; 
the  want  of  comprehension  being  worse  than  absolute  ignor- 
ance. We  are,  besides,  under  no  obligation  to  go  beyond  the 
limits  of  elementary  education.  Even  at  the  happy  time 
when  our  children  enter  into  the  conventionalities  of  common 
life,  and  of  primary  or  classical  education,  nothing  compels 
us  to  follow  them  in  their  new  career,  but  with  our  best 
wishes,  and  the  founded  expectation  that  ordinary  teachers, 
for  ordinary  teaching,  will  prove  more  competent  than  other- 
wise. 

Moreover,  if  we  have  done  elevating  the  functions  to  the 
intellectual  excellencies  of  faculties,  we  have  not  yet  finished 
educating   the    faculties    as    if    they   were    simple    functions. 


Physiological  Education.  i35 

Accordingly,  we  mean  for  the  present  to  call  attention  to  the 
training  of  the  two  most  general  faculties— Memory  and  Imag- 
ination. 

It  is  evident  that  whatever  pains  we  take,  and  whatever 
method  we  employ  to  teach  idiots,  our  lessons  would  leave 
but  a  fugitive  impression  without  the  help  of  memory.  This 
faculty  is  limited,  but  not  perverted,  in  idiots  as  it  is  in 
some  bright  children,  who  assert  in  good  faith  things  which 
could  never  have  happened.  If  idiots  ever  told  what  was  not 
true,  it  had  been  imposed  upon  their  honesty;  their  lie  was 
the  earnest  homage  of  their  truthfulness.  It  is  quite  com- 
mon to  find  among  them  memory  restricted  to  some  order  of 
the  faculties,  such  as  musical  imitation,  counting,  mechanics. 
These  one-sided  idiots  may  be  taught  almost  anything  in  the 
line  of  their  favorite  recollection,  but  nearly  nothing  else. 
Some  of  them,  for  instance,  will  learn  from  well-meaning  but 
unthinking  attendants,  long  pieces  of  poetry,  the  names  of 
our  Presidents,  of  all  kingdoms,  etc.,  whilst  they  cannot  say 
a  word  of  themselves,  nor  remember  what  they  have  eaten 
for  dinner,  nor  answer  a  question  otherwise  than  by  repeat- 
ing the  final  word  of  it;  but  among  these  diversities  there  is 
deficiency,  no  error.  Consequently  we  have  to  develop  here 
or  there,  more  or  less,  but  not  to  redress  this  faculty. 

Previously,  we  have  not  instituted  any  special  training 
for  the  development  of  memory;  but  in  all  our  exercises,  the 
introduction  of  the  memotechnic  element  could  easily  be  per- 
ceived; for  we  were  constantly  presenting  and  representing, 
comparing  and  reconsidering,  inducing  and  deducing,  impress- 
ing and  provoking  expressions;  making  sure,  by  all  means, 
that  the  impressions  were  received  with  fecund  associations; 
and  also  that  besides  leaving  their  mark  in  the  sensorium, 
they  might  be  evoked  at  any  time  when  wanted.  This  was 
no  memory  by  rote  which  brightens  an  exhibition,  but  was 
our  steady  support  from  one  progress  to  another.  Neverthe- 
less, whatever  may  have  been  the  stringency  with  which  we 
enforced  these  incidental  impressions  and  evocations,  they 
had  not  the  pointedness  of  purpose  which  is  necessary  Avhen 
we  want  to  attain  a  special  object,  and  which  could  only  be 
obtained  by  special  modes  of  training. 


136  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

When  we  wish  to  cultivate  the  memory  by  some  direct 
process  we  must  first  choose  the  remembrance — matter  most 
likely  to  please  the  child  and  to  make  an  impression  upon 
him;  and  secondly  we  must  train  the  memory  in  its  double 
aspect  of  perceiving  and  expressing  the  impressions :  we  must 
train  both,  at  first,  as  if  they  were  independent  functions 
whose  convergence  produces  later  the  complete  faculty;  as, 
truly,  impressing  and  evoking  past  events  or  images  are 
nothing  else.  We  therefore  bring  the  attention  of  the  child 
to  a  class  of  facts  or  feelings  in  three  circumstances — at 
the  time  when  they  take  place,  after  they  are  accomplished, 
and  at  the  time  they  are  to  represent  themselves  or  to  be  repro- 
duced by  him.  What  he  likes  to  eat,  what  he  does  with  most 
pleasure,  and  by  contrast  what  he  dreads  the  most,  are  the 
proper  objects  of  these  first  impressions :  primary  pabulum 
for  recollection.  We  impress  them  by  pairs,  according  to  the 
association  of  feelings  they  may  produce;  later  we  graduate 
them  according  to  progressions  in  ascending  or  descending 
series,  a  few  or  many  at  a  time ;  we  give  a  meaning  to  the 
formation  of  these  series  as  well  as  to  the  simplest  fact  or 
image  recollected;  and  we  habituate  the  mind  to  remember, 
not  for  remembrance's  sake  but  in  view  of  some  end  to 
be  accomplished  thereby.  By  all  means,  all  that  we  present  . 
our  child  to  treasure  in  his  memory  at  this  period,  must 
be  something  which  he  will  have  to  do  again,  or  whose 
moral  or  orderly  suggestions  shall  have  a  bearing  on  his 
future  conduct.  Memory  in  this  series  becomes  the  inward 
monitor  of  actions,  of  daily  habits,  and  of  external  life.  In 
this  line  we  must  not  be  afraid  to  show  some  vulgarity. 
This  order  of  recollections  will  bear  on  very  low  facts  indeed. 
We  have  begun  by  asking  our  questions  as  if  it  were  to 
the  stomach ;  we  interrogate  the  senses,  and  the  lowest  calls 
of  Nature,  if  anything  can  be  called  low  in  her;  we  ask  the 
feeling  of  cold,  of  pain,  of  fatigue ;  we  put  our  questions  to  the 
quick ;  as  when  the  hands  nearly  freeze,  we  ask  what  may 
keep  them  warm ;  the  recollection  of  mittens  or  of  a  stove 
will  suggest  itself  to  the  dullest  mind.  We  insist  particu- 
larly on  leaving  to  the  child  strong  memorial  impressions  of 
the  value  of  time,  money,  food,  fuel,  clothing,  light,  home, 
labor;  we  make  him  tell  and  repeat  all  the  associations  of 


Physiological  Education.  137 

these  powers,  with  his  own  comfort  and  duties,  with  the 
happiness  or  misery  of  others.  We  keep  him  informed  of 
the  changes  which  occur  in  these  matters  by  law,  recur- 
rences, or  accidents.  This  is  taught  in  private  or  in  group, 
alternately  in  action,  and  by  actions  when  possible;  children 
are  so  sensible  to  examples  taken  from  among  themselves. 

After  having  brought  this  class  of  commonplace  and  daily 
recollections  to  the  working  point  till  it  begins  to  bear 
practically  in  the  lives  of  the  children,  by  governing  their 
habits,  we  pass,  if  the  growing  intelligence  of  the  pupil 
permit,  as  it  generally  does  in  due  time,  to  a  class  of  recollec- 
tions, if  not  more  useful,  at  least  more  elevated  and  far- 
reaching  in  their  object.  In  the  series  we  now  leave  theoreti- 
cally behind,  the  retaining  and  combining  of  recollections  was 
promoted  by  a  natural  desire  of  comfort,  of  order,  of  recur- 
rence— was,  in  fact,  synchronous  with  our  animal  appetites. 
Instinct  was  the  main  lever  of  memory,  producing  regular 
habits,  etc.  In  the  series  we  are  abstractly  entering  now,  for 
tht  first  time,  the  gregarious  or  social  element  has  overstepped 
the  limits  of  the  instinct.  The  outside  world  has  effected  a 
lodgment  in  that  skull  once  the  domain  of  the  solitary  I. 
The  intellectual  faculties,  strengthened  by  external  accretion 
through  the  senses,  are  no  more  subservient,  but  command, 
and  now  exact  from  them  the  nutriment  necessary  to  con- 
vert the  physical  into  moral  impressions,  and  to  develop  the 
sense  of  kindness,  of  justice,,  of  the  beautiful  and  their 
kindred.  At  this  point  memory  looks  so  different  from  what 
it  is  in  most  animals,  or  in  men  unfortunate  enough  to  be 
shut  up  in  natural  idiocy,  or  in  artificial  imbecility  by  ignor- 
ance and  egotism ;  it  is  so  elevated  and  so  much  of  a  general- 
izer;  it  is  so  potent  to  reproduce  images,  even  of  the  abstract, 
with  the  vividness  of  creation,  that  its  name  is  henceforth 
imagination. 

Imagination,  like  primordial  memory,  evokes,  and  to  some 
extent  may  repulse  feelings  or  images ;  but  by  a  kind  dispensa- 
tion the  image  of  our  pleasure  is  more  vivid  and  more  easily 
evoked  than  that  of  our  pains.  That  imagination,  not  only 
of  what  is  called  the  lowest  order  of  phenomena,  but  of  the 
highest  intellectual  cast  and  abstraction,  is  the  result  of  com- 
parison   between   true   sensations,    is    evident.      Men   of   the 


138  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

greatest  imagination,  like  Homer  and  Milton,  not  only  had 
observed  immensely  before  their  blindness,  but  that  infirmity 
preventing  the  formation  of  new  sceneries,  permitted  them  to 
reproduce  v^dth  more  exactitude  and  vividness  than  other 
poets  the  wonderful  images  painted  behind  their  cecity.  On 
the  other  hand,  persons  congenitally  blind  cannot  form  images 
of  Vvhat  can  only  be  perceived  by  the  sight,  nor  congenital 
deaf  mutes  have  ideas  of  sonority.  And  idiots  who  are,  in 
the  proportion  of  their  native  infirmity,  deprived  of  sensa- 
tions like  the  blind  or  the  deaf,  are  altogether  in  the  same 
proportion  incapable  of  memory  or  imagination ;  but  as  soon 
as,  and  as  much,  as  their  senses  begin  to  perceive,  their 
mind  begins  to  remember  and  to  imagine.  So  the  rule  is, 
no  ideas  nor  images  without  previous  perception. 

That  idiots  can  be  made  to  imagine  as  well  as  remember 
is  proved  by  the  rapid  development  and  correctness,  under 
a  physiological  training,  of  their  aspirations  for  what  is 
beautiful,  right,  and  worth  loving.  It  is  imagination  which 
teaches  them  to  try  to  please  us  because  they  see  our  face 
lighted  with  hope  and  faith  in  their  progress.  It  is  imagina- 
tion which  makes  them  try  new  contacts,  to  receive  new 
impressions,  and  compare  these  to  the  old  ones.  It  is  imagina- 
tion which  impels  even  the  low  idiot,  once  under  training, 
to  share  his  cake  with  another  child  and  to  look  intensely, 
not  at  his  mouth,  but  at  his  eye,  to  see  in  it  the  gleam  of 
pleasure  of  which  he  wants  his  share  as  a  reward.  It  is  by 
favoring  the  creation  and  the  recurrence  of  such  impressions 
that  intellectual  wants  are  created.  Soon  the  child's  mind 
needs  food  as  well  as  his  body. 

Considering  the  bearing  of  this  part  of  the  training,  we 
must,  as  early  as  possible,  cultivate  the  formation  and  expres- 
sion of  images,  commencing  as  low  as  necessary,  as  we  did 
for  memory  proper.  Here  pictures,  recitations,  dialogues,  and 
animated  narratives  find  their  place ;  adding  forms  to  facts, 
colors  to  forms,  movement  to  the  whole.  And  as  imagina- 
tion is  not  complete,  since  receiving  impressions  it  does  not 
return  them,  the  idiot  must  be  made  to  express  his  expres- 
sions as  soon  as  his  face  and  pantomime  testify  that  he  has 
been  impressed.  Henceforth  let  him  receive  and  send  back 
the  images;  as  in  reading,  the  words;  as  in  the  gymnasium. 


Physiological  Education.  139 

the    balancing-pole;    double    current,    solidarity,    which    con- 
stitutes the  I  part  of  us. 

If  memory  connects  the  past  and  the  future  in  the  pres- 
ent of  a  single  individual,  imagination  connects  the  same 
with  all  the  race  and  all  time.  In  this  way  we  conduct  our 
children,  some  on  the  threshold,  some  on  the  proscenium, 
a  few  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  unseen  pantheon  where  every- 
thing which  is,  is  as  if  it  were  not;  and  where  everything 
which  is  no  more,  or  is  not  yet,  may  be  summoned  intO' 
existence.  From  the  feeling  of  pressure  on  the  tactile  organs 
which  taught  prehension,  to  our  feelings  of  duty  towards  our 
pupils  which  taught  them  affection;  from  the  distinction  of 
the  difference  between  a  circle  and  a  square,  and  that  between 
affirmation  and  negation,  or  between  right  and  wrong,  we 
have  followed  a  continuous  path,  beginning  where  the  func- 
tion awakes  to  the  perception  of  simple  notions,  finishing 
where  the  faculties  refuse  to  soar  higher  in  the  atmosphere  of 
idealism. 

Perception  producing  simple  notion,  faculty  producing  ideas 
more  and  more  complex  and  abstract,  are  the  extreme  terms 
of  the  chain,  beginning  at  the  peripheric  extremity  of  the 
nerves,  ending  in  the  hemispheres.  Perceptions  are  acquired 
by  the  mind  through  the  senses,  not  by  the  senses.  This 
is  proved  anew  every  time  a  new  sense  is  created,  or  an  old 
one  improved  by  some  discovery  such  as  spectacles,  tele- 
scopes, microscopes,  algebra,  compasses,  electrometers,  etc. 
It  is  not  that  artificial  sense  which  perceives,  it  is  the  mind 
through  it.  In  our  case,  every  time  we  have  improved, 
even  sometimes  nearly  created,  the  •  modes  of  perception 
of  idiots,  their  mind  has  begun  to  perceive  phenomena  through 
their  new  and  improved  senses ;  and  we  have  been  enabled  to 
conduct  those  impressions  to  the  centre  where  they  become 
idealized.  In  this  manner  all  the  senses  natural  or  artificial, 
physical  or  moral,  are  doors  to  the  various  passages  leading 
into  the  focus  of  impressions  wherefrom  radiates  all  expres- 
sion. To  facilitate  the  study,  we  distinguished  the  notions 
from  the  ideas  as  if  they  were  two  products  of  different 
functions ;  but  for  the  sake  of  truth  we  leave  them  both  what 
they  are,  the  incipiency  and  the  conclusion  of  the  operation? 


140  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

of  a  single  function;  the  function  of  reflecting  all  we  can  of 
the  world  into  our  microcosm. 

Thus  education  connects  a  small  body  with  all  bodies,  a 
small  intellect  with  the  general  laws  of  the  universe,  through 
specific  instruments  of  perception. 

This  being  the  law  of  perception  of  phenomena  it  does  not 
matter  through  which  sense  we  perceive;  the  same  operation 
being  entirely  from  the  mind,  is  always  identical  with  itself; 
this  law  is  nothing  less  than  the  principle  of  our  physiological 
method  of  education. 

Thence  the  law  of  evolution  of  the  function  of  the  senses 
ending  in  intellectual  faculty,  rules  from  the  youngest  child 
to  the  most  encyclopaedic  nervous  apparatus.  A  corollary  law 
to  this,  is  the  mode  of  perception  and  idealization  of  the  im- 
pressions according  to  certain  conditions,  conformable  to  the 
teachings  of  anatomy  and  physiology.  One  thing  at  a  time, 
is  the  law  of  sensorial  perception  for  inferior  animals.  As 
many  things  at  a  time  as  necessary  to  form  a  complete  idea, 
is  the  law  for  the  intellectual  comprehension  of  man.  In 
animals  some  senses  are  more  perfect  than  in  man,  hence  their 
sensations  are  more  perfect  than  ours ;  nevertheless,  theirs 
being  received  in  singleness  and  registered  without  associa- 
tions, cannot  become  ideas,  because  their  notions  acquired 
alone,  live  or  die  alone,  incapable  of  fecundation;  the  lower 
animals  are  as  far  down  as  that. 

But  we  cannot  study  the  progress  of  sensoria  and  intel- 
lectual evolution  without  finding  already  animals  inferior 
to  mammalia  which  register  their  sensations  and  feelings  in 
comparison  with  each  other,  and  with  a  meaning  attached  to 
them.  These  animals  must  receive  compared  and  comparable 
impressions,  to  be  capable  of  combining  them  presently  or 
hereafter,  to  form  new  judgments  and  determinations.  The 
ant,  the  bee,  the  spider,  the  blue-fly  and  many  more,  give 
evidence  of  their  power  of  idealizing  notions,  and  of  the  ration- 
ality of  their  determinations.  But  for  the  immense  majority 
of  animals,  the  rule  seems  to  be  one  perception  at  a  time, 
whose  isolated  notion  is  incapable  of  entering  into  collections 
of  images,  parents  to  ideas.  Though  every  observation  points 
to  the  probable  issue  of  this  difference  between  man  and 
trutes  as  being  only  a  gradation,  whose  lowest  strata  begin 


Physiological  Education.  141 

lower  than  the  corals,  which  know  in  what  direction  to  build 
and  propagate,  and  ends  where  man  does  not  yet  dare  to 
aspire.  However,  few  minds  are  prepared  for  this  affirma- 
tion unless  it  could  be  supported  by  the  following  observa- 
tion : 

In  the  nervous  apparatus  of  animals,  the  sensory  ganglia 
are  larger  than  the  hemisphere  in  proportion  to  the  develop- 
ment of  their  respective  functions ;  sensorial  perceptions  being 
in  them  more  extensive  than  the  ideal  products  of  comparison. 
On  the  contrary,  in  our  human  nervous  system,  the  intel- 
lectual ganglia  are  larger  than  the  sensorial  ones  in  proportion 
to  the  predominance  of  the  reflective  and  willed  above  the  per- 
ceptive faculties. 

The  following  remarks  constitute  the  psychological  corol- 
lary to  this  observation. 

The  motor  of  life  in  animals  is  mostly  centripetal;  the 
motor  of  life  in  man  is  mostly  centrifugal.  But  how  many 
uneducated,  or  viciously  educated  men  display  none  but  the 
ferocious  centripetal  power  of  the  beast;  while  a  dog  shall 
affront  death  to  defend  his  master,  that  master  may  work 
the  ruin  of  twenty  families  to  satisfy  a  single  brute  appetite; 
nevertheless,  the  motor  in  the  beast  is  called  instinct,  in  man 
soul.  Well,  we  will  say  yes ;  instinct  when  a  wild,  uneducated, 
or  uneducable  stock;  soul  when  engrafted  by  education  and 
revelation.  As  a  generality,  however,  animals  have  only  a 
centripetal  or  individual  life ;  men,  educated  and  participating 
in  the  incessant  revelation,  have  a  social  and  centrifugal  exist- 
ence, also,  being,  feeling,  thinking,  in  mankind,  as  mankind  is, 
feels,  and  progresses  in  God.  What  can  be  done  to  a  certain 
extent  for  brutes,  may  be  done  for  idiots  and  their  congeners; 
their  life  may  be  rendered  more  centrifugal,  that  is  to  say 
more  social,  by  education. 

True,  this  view  of  our  subject  and  of  our  race  would  not 
deprive  animals  of  some  kind  of  soul.  But  our  mind  must 
have  already  become  familiar  with  that  sort  of  concessions; 
since  women,  Jews,  peasants,  Sudras,  Farias,  Indians,  Negroes, 
imbeciles,  insane,  idiots,  are  not  now  denied  a  soul,  as  they 
were  once  by  religious  or  civil  ordinances.  Nations  have  per- 
ished by  the  over-educating  of  a  few;  mankind  can  be 
improved  only  by  the  elevation  of  the  lowest  through  educa- 


142  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

tion  and  comfort,  which  substitute  harmony  to  antagonism, 
and  make  all  beings  feel  the  unity  of  what  circulates  in  all, 
life. 

Contrarily  to  the  teachings  of  various  mythologies  of  the 
brain,  and  with  the  disadvantage  of  working  against  the 
prevalent  anthropological  formula,  we  were  obliged  at  the 
same  time  to  use  most  of  its  terms;  we  have  developed  our 
child,  not  like  a  duality,  nor  like  a  trinity,  nor  like  an  illimited 
poly-entity,  but  as  nearly  as  we  could  like  a  unit.  It  is  true 
that  the  unity  of  the  physiological  training  could  not  be  gone 
through  without  concessions  to  the  language  of  the  day,  nor 
to  necessities  of  analysis,  quite  repugnant  to  the  principle ;  it 
is  true  that  we  have  been  speaking  of  muscular,  nervous,  or 
sensorial  functions,  as  of  things  as  distinct  for  us  as  muscles, 
nerves,  and  bones  are  for  the  anatomist;  but  after  a  long 
struggle  with  these  difficulties,  psycho-physiology  vindicated 
its  rights  against  the  feebleness  of  our  understanding,  and 
the  mincing  of  our  vocabularies. 

We  looked  at  the  rather  immovable,  or  ungovernable  mass 
called  an  idiot  with  the  faith  that  where  the  appearance  dis- 
played nothing  but  ill-organized  matter,  there  was  nothing 
tut  ill-circumstanced  animus.  In  answer  to  that  conviction, 
when  we  educated  the  muscles,  contractibility  responded  to 
our  bidding  with  a  spark  from  volition ;  we  exercised  severally 
the  senses,  but  an  impression  could  not  be  made  on  their 
would-be  material  nature,  without  the  impression  taking  its 
rank  among  the  accumulated  idealities ;  we  were  enlarging  the 
chest,  and  new  voices  came  out  from  it,  expressing  new  ideas 
and  feelings ;  we  strengthened  the  hand,  and  it  became  the 
realizer  of  ideal  creations  and  labor ;  we  started  imitation  as 
a  passive  exercise,  and  it  soon  gave  rise  to  all  sorts  of  spon- 
taneous actions;  we  caused  pain  and  pleasure  to  be  felt 
through  the  skin  or  the  palate,  and  the  idiot,  in  answer,  tried 
to  please  by  the  exhibition  of  his  new  moral  qualities :  in  fact, 
we  could  not  touch  a  fibre  of  his,  without  receiving  back  the 
vibration  of  his  all-souled  instrument. 

In  opposition  to  this  testimony  of  the  unity  of  our  nature 
given  by  idiots,  since  they  receive  a  physiological  education, 
might  be  arrayed  the  testimony  of  millions  of  children  artifi- 
cially developed  by  dualistic  or  other  antagonistic  systems ; 


Physiological  Education.  143 

as  millions  of  ox  and  horse  teams  testified  to  the  powerlessness 
of  steam.  The  fact  that  dualism  is  not  in  our  nature  but  in 
our  sufferings,  is  self-evident.  Average  men  who  oppose 
everything,  were  compressed  from  birth  in  some  kind  of 
swaddling  bands;  those  who  abhor  study  were  forced  to  it 
as  to  ptmishment;  those  who  gormandize  were  starved;  those 
who  lie  were  brought  to  it  by  fear;  those  who  hate  labor  have 
been  reduced  to  work  for  others;  those  who  covet  were 
deprived ;  everywhere  oppression  creates  the  exogenous  ele- 
ment of  dualism.  Of  the  two  terms  of  "the  house  divided 
against  itself,"  one  is  the  right  owner,  the  other  is  evidently 
the  intruder.  We  have  done  away  with  the  last  in  educating 
idiots,  not  by  repression,  which  would  have  created  it,  but 
by  ignoring  it. 

One  of  the  earliest  and  most  fatal  antagonisms  taught  to 
a  child  is  the  forbidding  of  using  his  hands  to  ascertain  the 
qualities  of  surrounding  objects,  of  which  his  sight  gives 
him  but  an  imperfect  notion,  if  it  be  not  aided  by  the  touch; 
and  of  breaking  many  things  as  well,  to  acquire  the  proper 
idea  of  solidity.  The  imbecility  of  parents  in  these  matters 
has  too  often  favored  the  growth  of  the  evil  spirit.  The 
youngest  child,  when  he  begins  to  totter  on  his  arched  legs, 
goes  about  touching,  handling,  breaking  everything.  It  is 
our  duty  to  foster  and  direct  that  beautiful  curiosity,  to  make 
it  the  regular  channel  for  the  acquisition  of  correct  perceptions 
and  tactile  accuracy;  as  for  breaking,  it  must  be  turned  into 
the  desire  of  preservation  and  the  power  of  holding  with  the 
will ;  nothing  is  so  simple,  as  the  following  example  will  dem- 
onstrate : 

Once  a  very  excitable  child,  eighteen  months  old,  touching, 
breaking,  throwing  everything  he  could,  seemed  really  ready,  if 
he  had  been  once  punished  for  it,  to  become  possessed  by  the 
old  intruder;  but  it  was  not  our  plan.  We  bought  unmatched 
Sevres  cups  and  Bohemia  glasses,  really  splendid  to  look  at, 
and  served  the  child  in  one  of  them,  after  showing  him  the 
elegance  of  the  pattern,  the  richness  of  the  colors,  everything 
which  could  please  and  attach  him  to  the  object.  But  he 
had  no  sooner  drunk  then  he  threw  the  glass  away.  Not  a 
word  was  said,  not  a  piece  removed  from  where  it  fell ;  but 
the   next  time  he  was  thirsty,   we  brought   him  where   the 


144  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

fragments  lay,  and  let  him  feel  more  thirst  before  we  could 
find  another  glass  equally  beautiful.  Some  more  were  broken 
in  the  same  petulant  spirit ;  but  later,  he  slowly  dropped  one, 
when  at  the  same  time,  he  looked  into  our  eyes  to  catch  signs 
of  anger.  But  there  was  none  there,  nor  in  the  voice;  only 
the  composure  and  accent  of  pity  for  the  child  who  could 
willingly  incur  such  a  loss.  Since  then,  baby  took  good  care 
of  his  cups  and  glasses,  finer  than  ours;  he  taught  his  little 
fingers  how  to  embrace  with  security  the  thin  neck  of  one, 
the  large  body,  or  the  diminutive  handle  of  others.  In  prac- 
tising these  so  varied  handlings,  his  mind  became  saving  and 
his  hands  a  model  of  accuracy. 

Now  that  the  unity  of  our  plan  to  connect  all  the  functions 
and  faculties  in  the  unity  of  manhood,  and  into  mankind,  is 
fully  exposed  to  view,  we  have  only  a  few  words  to  say  about 
the  unity  of  our  apparentl}^  disconnected  means  and  instru- 
ments of  education. 

Whatever  we  have  been  teaching,  and  whatever  instruments 
and  means  we  were  employing  for  that  object,  our  method 
proper  has  been  founded  upon  one  principle,  comparison.  All 
our  efforts  at  making  the  child  perceive,  were  aimed  at  com- 
paring all  his  actions,  comparisons ;  all  our  orders,  compari- 
sons; all  his  experiences,  comparisons.  That  this  principle, 
which  necessitates  at  least  two  terms  to  produce  an  idea, 
is  the  physiological  principle  of  education,  might  be  demon- 
strated by  the  success  of  those  who  taught  by  it  idiots  other- 
wise uneducable.  But  as  the  retired  institutions  where  these 
children  are  improved  are  not  yet  familiar  to  everybody,  let 
us  show,  in  the  evidence  given  by  ordinary  children,  that 
our  method  of  physiological  education  is  nature's  own  method 
of  teaching  mankind. 

The  new-born  infant,  sucking  for  the  first  time,  is  not  satis- 
fied by  the  breast  that  he  cannot  exhaust.  Even  so  young, 
he  does  not  live  exclusively  upon  milk,  but  on  knowledge  too ; 
for  if  we  turn  our  eyes  from  the  hand  which  helps  his  mouth 
in  forcing  out  the  milk,  we  see  the  other  carefully  studying 
with  its  two  surfaces,  not  only  the  form  of  the  opposite  breast, 
but  the  deflections  and  distances  between  each ;  the  firmness, 
elasticity,  softness,  and  warmth  of  his  new  dominions ;  we  see 
him  following  mostly,  for  the  sake  of  accuracy,  the  convex 


Physiological  Education.  145 

curves  with  the  palm,  and  the  concave  surfaces  with  the  back 
of  his  hand.  After  a  few  days,  he  knows  all  about  it,  and 
being  less  eager  for  knowledge,  he  moves  his  hands  only  to 
receive  pleasant  contacts  from  the  touch  of  his  mother's  skin, 
or  to  go  farther  in  search  of  new  discoveries  among  the  silk, 
cotton  or  woollen  fabrics. 

The  little  child,  carried  for  the  first  time  in  a  forest,  is 
no  sooner  on  his  feet  among  nature's  productions,  than  he 
exclaims,  "  Oh,  the  big  trees !  Oh,  the  small  flowers !  Oh, 
the  little,  little  insects !  "  passing  again  and  again  from  the 
tree  to  the  moss,  from  the  insect  to  the  tree,  till  the  whole 
comparison  is  registered  with  all  its  attributes.  If  the  child 
had  seen  these  things  individually,  and  not  collectively  with 
their  differences,  when  forgetting  the  isolated  impression  of 
each,  he  would  have  lost  all  of  them,  and  nothing  more  would 
be  left;  but  having  registered  with  the  perishable  isolated 
images,  the  ideas  and  feelings  resulting  from  their  comparison, 
it  does  not  matter  much  if  the  isolated  images  of  the  things 
have  since  been  defaced  or  not;  the  image  may  be  gone,  but 
the  idea  of  it  once  impressed  is  felt  to  this  day  and  for  ever 
with  all  its  consequences  of  sylvan  tastes,  rural  tendencies, 
and  sensibility  to  the  language  of  the  earth. 

A  boy  had  grown  to  the  age  of  six  without  paying  any 
attention  to  size  among  men;  perhaps  he  and  his  kin  were 
of  small  size.  He  knew  generally  that  some  men  were  taller 
than  others,  but  he  thought  nothing  of  it,  nor  deduced  any 
ideas  from  it.  However,  being  once  introduced  in  a  place 
of  worship  where  a  devout  old  king  was  expected,  the  atten- 
tion of  the  child  was  riveted  upon  two  immeasurable  drum- 
mers, separated  by  a  diminutive  fifer-boy,  and  his  eyes,  passing 
from  the  tall  to  the  tiny  musician,  could  hardly  be  led  off 
from  these  extreme  forms  of  humanity  to  look  at  the  pale 
king  as  he  stood  in  white  and  gold  robes,  kneeling  in  his  white 
stuccoed  chapel.  The  sound,  so  broad  from  the  drums,  so 
acute  from  the  fife,  strengthened,  through  audition,  the  former 
comparisons  of  proportions  made  de  visu;  and  since,  this  sim- 
ple and  imposing  pageant  now  stands  in  the  mind  of  the  man, 
matrix  of  all  measurement,  as  the  Egyptian  Pylones  of  the 
measurement  of  the  Nile. 
10 


146  Idiocy,  and  its  Treatment. 

These  illustrations  of  the  operations  of  the  mind  through 
three  senses — the  touch,  the  sight,  the  hearing,  in  children 
whose  functions  had  not  yet  been  distorted  by  arbitrary 
memotechnical  teachings,  show  the  nature  of  the  physiologi- 
cal teaching  to  be,  not  the  unity  of  object,  but  the  rational 
comparison  of  objects,  to  be  taught  through  any  or  all  senses. 
The  bird  can  see  farther,  the  spider  can  hear  better,  the 
blue-fly  can  smell  more  accurately,  the  cat  may  feel  more 
delicately  with  its  velvet  paw,  than  our  children  with  their 
corresponding  agents  of  sensation;  but  the  beast's  sensations, 
perfect  as  we  suppose  them  to  be,  are  only  connected  with  a 
few  instincts,  are  not  connective  among  themselves  nor  with 
past  images,  and  consequently  soon  die  in  their  isolation, 
being  incapable  of  forming  new  images  and  ideas  by  com- 
parison, as  they  do  in  children. 

We  may  take  as  an  example  of  that  difference,  the  effects 
produced  by  the  fall  of  rain  upon  a  child  and  a  bird.  It  will 
hasten  home  both  the  bird  and  the  child;  but  the  flight  of 
the  former  is  prompted  only  by  the  instinct  of  security  for 
itself  or  its  young;  and  the  course  of  the  latter  homeward  will 
be  accompanied,  besides  his  present  object  relative  to  personal 
feeling,  motherly  injunctions,  possibly  penalties,  etc.,  by  ideas 
about  rain  as  numerous  as  its  dripping  drops :  rain  will 
beautify  the  flower-garden;  swell  the  stream  in  which  he  can 
swim,  where  his  friend  was  drowned,  etc.;  these  drops  shall 
soon  look  like  diamonds  on  the  grass  when  the  sun  shines ; 
the  rain  which  fell  upon  him  last  winter  was  chilling;  what 
a  difference  now;  this  is  warm,  it  fumes  on  his  jacket;  warmer 
it  could  be  inclosed  in  a  boiler,  move  trains  and  ships,  etc., 
etc.  Thus  loaded  with  comparisons,  the  boy  reaches  home 
later  than  the  bird,  but  full  of  ideas  induced  by  this  rain. 
He  may,  in  after  years,  forget  this  circumstance,  but  he  will 
never  forget  the  peculiar  impressions  and  associations  ex- 
perienced and  evoked  in  this  first  summer  shower. 

Children  are  our  witnesses ;  unlike  animals,  they  never 
perceive  single,  but  compound  phenomena;  from  sensational 
these  become  instantly  idealized  by  comparison.  Mere  im- 
pressions, being  compared,  become  ideas  susceptible  of  combi- 
nation, and  of  themselves  producing  any  number  of  new  ideas  ; 
of  becoming  indeed  the  mother  of  actions:  for  man  cannot 


Physiological  Education.  147 

execute  anything  that  has  not  been  previously  born  into  his 
mind.  Sensation  perceived  Hke  a  notion,  notion  fecundated 
to  an  idea  reahzed  in  life  itself,  such  is  the  unbroken  spiral 
of  our  teaching,  and  through  teaching,  of  our  action  on  idiocy. 
From  collecting  the  sparse  powers  of  muscles  and  nerves 
disconnected  by  the  absence  of  v^ill,  to  the  gathering  of  the 
faculties  in  the  act  of  thinking,  our  progress  has  been  a  con- 
stant ascension  on  the  steps  leading  from  isolation  to 
sociability. 

Though  much  more  might  be  said  on  this  subject  without 
doing  its  full  justice,  we  leave  it  cheerfully  at  this  unfinished 
stage,  where  the  experience  of  others  may  be  more  proficient 
to  complete  it  than  ours. 


PART  III 

MORAL   TREATMENT 

Long  before  physicians  had  conceived  the  plan  of  correct- 
ing the  false  ideas  and  feelings  of  a  lunatic  by  purgatives, 
or  the  cranial  depressions  of  an  idiot  by  bleeding,  Spain  had 
produced  several  generations  of  monks  who  treated  with  the 
greatest  success  all  kinds  of  mental  diseases  without  drugs, 
by  moral  training  alone.  Certain  regular  labors,  the  per- 
formance of  simple  and  assiduous  duties,  an  enlightened  and 
sovereign  volition,  watching  constantly  over  the  patients,  such 
were  the  only  remedies  employed. 

"  We  cure  almost  all  our  lunatics,"  said  the  good  fathers, 
'"  except  the  nobles,  who  would  think  themselves  dishonored 
by  working  with  their  hands."  This  tradition,  handed  down 
to  us  by  Pinel,  is  corroborated  by  the  testimony  of  Leuret 
on  the  present  revival  of  moral  treatment :  "  See  what  takes 
place  in  idiots.  There  is  nearly  always  in  their  brain  a  vice, 
acquired  or  congenital.  Is  it  by  physical  agents  or  by  educa- 
tion that  one  succeeds  in  giving  some  development  to  their 
intelligence?  The  medical  agents  would  be  of  no  use;  nobody 
thinks  any  more  of  using  them;  but  the  moral  agencies,  em- 
ployed with  discrimination  and  tenacity,  produce,  on  the  con- 
trary, in  the  intelligence  and  passions  of  idiots  changes  almost 
marvellous.  We  infer  from  this  that  even  if  there  were  a 
true  alteration  in  the  brains  of  the  insane,  the  moral  treatment 
would  yet  offer  the  best  chances  of  success."* 

We  need  more  the  support  of  Leuret's  authority  than  he 
needed  ours  when,  being  a  daily  witness  to  our  efforts,  he 
was  pleased  to  express  in  these  terms  his  approbation  of  the 
part  of  our  method  we  are  going  to  expose. 

The  moral  treatment  is  the  systematic  action  of  a  will  upon 
another,  in  view  of  its  improvement ;  in  view  for  an  idiot,  of 
his  socialization.  It  takes  possession  of  him  from  his  entrance 
in  to  his  exit  from  the  institution ;  from  his  opening  to  his 
shutting  his  eyes ;  from  his  acts  of  animal  life  to  the  exer- 
cise of  his  intellectual  faculties.     It  gives  a  social  meaning, 

♦Leuret,  Du  Traitement  Moral  de  la  Folic.     Paris:  1840. 


Moral  Treatment.  149 

a  moral  bearing  to  everything  about  him.  The  influences 
destined  to  give  moral  impulse  to  the  very  life  of  the  idiot 
gome  upon  him  from  prearranged  circumstances,  from  prepared 
association  with  his  fellows,  and,  above  all,  directly  from 
the  superior  will  which  plans  and  directs  the  whole  treatment. 
We  have  seen,  more  than  once,  in  the  preceding  part,  how  the 
moral  treatment  was  blended  with  the  physiological  training. 
We  shall  see  very  soon  the  same  element  acting  like  a  leaven 
in  labors,  occupations,  pleasures,  or  claiming  its  control  over 
food,  clothing,  hygiene,  or  medical  attendance.  We  find  it 
everywhere;  and  it  would  be  writing  the  same  book  over 
again  from  another  stand-point  to  describe  the  working  of 
this  training  in  all  parts  of  the  treatment.  To  be  brief,  we 
will  expose  it  only  as  an  abstract  power,  leaving  the  commen- 
taries and  applications  to  be  determined  by  circumstances. 

The  discipline  or  moral  government  of  idiots,  without  dif- 
fering absolutely  from  that  of  other  children,  has  its  peculiari- 
ties. A  good  many  idiots  cannot  understand  nor  follow  a 
private  discipline  expressed  by  orders,  who  will  follow  the 
general  discipline  of  a  school,  by  a  sort  of  intuition,  as  if 
knowingly ;  they  seem  to  comprehend  it  through  contact  with 
other  children.  Contrarily,  owing  to  the  isolation  of  idiocy, 
and  to  a  want  of  concert  among  idiots,  the  mass  of  them,  as 
such,  is  on  an  average  refractory  to  any  new  impression; 
small  groups  receive  it  better,  and  individuals  best  of  all. 
So  that  individual  discipline  is  at  first  resorted  to,  till  the 
group,  and  then  the  mass,  are  familiar  with  the  regular  move- 
ment of  the  school. 

To  enforce,  exact,  promote,  induce,  encourage,  lead,  sus- 
tain obedience  in  idiots,  severity  would  be  cruelty.  Physical 
correction  is  useless,  unless  blended  with  the  eradication  of 
the  wrong.  Punishment  is  to  be  avoided  till  it  be  certain 
that  the  understanding  of  the  wrong  preceded  its  commission. 
Repression  cannot  be  avoided ;  let  it  be  employed  in  its  mildest 
forms.  A  child  could  not  be  forced  to  stand  motionless,  even 
were  his  legs  bound,  who  remains  perfectly  still  in  a  circle 
traced  with  chalk  around  his  feet.  The  anger  of  another 
changes  into  repentance  at  the  sight  of  his  name  written  on 
that  part  of  the  black-board  reserved  for  bad  records.    Indeed, 


150  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

the  means  of  repression  are  what  the  intelligence  and  feelings 
of  the  teacher  make  them. 

Recompenses  may  be  given  like  punishments ;  that  is  to  say, 
provided  their  meaning  be  understood.  If  not,  they  speak  to 
the  sight,  stomach,  nostrils,  etc.,  but  not  to  the  moral  sense, 
and  become  in  regard  to  it  instruments  of  perversion. 

Caresses  are  of  great  power  for  good  or  evil,  and  must  be 
reserved  as  rewards  and  stimuli.  But  injudiciously  applied, 
they  break  the  continuity  of  commenced  efforts,  cause  a  diver- 
sion from  the  task  and  a  relaxation  of  the  will;  it  gives  the 
child  an  exaggerated  idea  of  his  worth,  or  of  that  of  his  doings, 
and  profoundly  spoils  his  moral  nature;  moreover,  a  number 
of  children  cannot  be  caressed  at  all  without  danger,  owing 
to  certain  nervous  anomalies.  Great  discretion  and  reserve 
are  required  from  teachers  and  others  in  this  respect,  for  the 
moral  government  of  idiots.  Here  once  more  we  see  how 
difficult  it  is  to  fill  the  place  of  a  mother;  in  her  absence 
caresses,  as  an  incentive  to  progress,  are  not  pettings,  and 
less  the  selection  of  pets. 

Moral  education  is  nothing  else  than  a  revelation ;  as  such, 
its  teaching  to  children  by  books,  or  even  by  common  lan- 
guage, would  be  a  complete  failure ;  whereas  it  is  accom- 
plished quite  easily,  through  moral  agencies  whose  simul- 
taneity is  the  chef  d'oeiivre  of  the  art  of  human  training. 
Though  these  moral  influences  proceed  mostly  from  the  ruling 
will  of  the  master,  we  must  distinguish  those  which  emanate 
immediately  from  his  own  self,  from  those  which  are  the 
result  of  intermediate  agencies,  prepared  by  him,  or  not. 
These  agencies  will  first  attract  our  attention  as  putting  the 
child  in  the  best  external  conditions  to  become  spontaneous 
and  willed  afterwards. 

Whatever  we  want  a  child  to  do,  and  whatever  might  be 
otherwise  our  special  teaching  to  that  effect,  there  are  cer- 
tain moral  conditions  as  necessary  to  our  success  as  the 
technical  ones ;  those  we  shall  at  once  consider.  These  con- 
ditions have  reference  to  time,  place,  and  surroundings.  The 
time  to  command  an  action,  or  incite  to  it,  must  be  not  only 
favorable,  but  the  most  opportune :  as  for  instance,  the  exer- 
cise of  nomination  of  food  must  not  only  take  place  at  meal 
times,  but  before  the  appetite  begins  to  be  satisfied ;  or  the 


Moral  Treatment.  151 

appreciation  of  temperature  must  not  be  made  at  different 
periods  of  the  year,  but  at  those  when  the  child  will  best 
appreciate  heat,  cold,  dryness,  moisture,  etc.  The  places 
where  lessons  are  to  be  taken  must  be  not  only  convenient, 
but  exactly  appropriate;  thus  attention  need  not  be  called 
to  any  indift'erent  object  in  front  of  any  opening  towards  a 
fine  natural  scenery;  nor  comparison  of  color  tried  when  the 
smell  is  strongly  attracted  by  odors;  thus,  again,  solicitations 
to  activity  must  be  made  where  there  is  room  enough  for 
action;  speech  provoked  where  its  effect  can  be  appreciated; 
the  first  commands  imposed  where  there  can  be  no  escape  from 
obedience.  The  surrounding  circumstances  are  to  be  made 
equally  instrumental  to  our  purpose:  light  or  darkness,  soli- 
tude or  multitude,  movement  or  immobility,  silence  or  sounds, 
etc.,  are  to  be  chosen  or  prepared  in  view  of  their  moral 
influence  on  the  actions  demanded  of  the  idiot.  We  must 
remember  that  our  teaching  how  to  do  a  thing,  is  to  him  of 
no  practical  value  if  we  do  not  place  him  in  the  best  circum- 
stances to  accomplish  it ;  as  to  put  him  among  other  children 
doing  the  same  thing;  to  let  him  see  them  do  it  without 
attempting  it  himself;  to  make  him  imitate  the  nearest  thing 
to  the  one  wished  of  him;  to  let  him  desire  what  we  desire 
him  to  do,  etc.  The  accomplishment  of  these  objects,  and 
particularly  of  the  last,  which  implies  the  fostering  of  new 
volition,  will  be  partly  realized  by  intelligent  disposition  of 
time,  place,  and  scenery,  but  will  be  as  often  due  to  the  in- 
fluence that  the  children  will  exercise  among  themselves,  if 
philosophically  managed. 

This  moral  training  of  the  children,  one  by  many,  several 
by  one,  all  by  all,  is  one  of  the  main  springs  of  the  present 
part  of  our  task.  What  we  cannot  command,  another  child 
will  incite ;  what  we  cannot  explain  to  a  child,  he  will  imitate 
from  another;  what  a  group  cannot  do  after  our  command, 
will  be  done  after  the  example  of  a  small  child.  However 
incapable  we  consider  idiots,  they  can  be  made  to  act  effi- 
ciently one  upon  another,  if  we  know  how  to  appose  the  viva- 
cious to  the  immobile,  the  loquacious  to  the  mute,  the  imita- 
tive to  the  careless,  the  affectionate  to  the  indifferent.  This 
apposition  of  children  in  view  of  their  reciprocal  advance- 
ment, ought  to  take  place  in  various  ways,  according  to  the 


152  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

object  desired;  by  groups  of  equals,  by  series  of  one  capable 
and  several  incapable,  and  vice  versa,  by  pairs  of  two  extremes 
in  aptitude,  by  one  commanding  the  other  from  outside  their 
ranks,  by  several  correcting  the  vicious  expressions  or  atti- 
tude of  the  whole  files,  etc.  In  these  multiform  operations 
of  the  simultaneous  training,  the  child  who  teaches  another 
in  a  certain  sense  teaches  himself  more  by  the  reflex  action 
of  his  will  upon  his  own  understanding;  though  it  is  quite 
certain,  besides,  that  very  many  things  are  taught  from  child 
to  child  that  we  could  not  at  all,  or  not  so  well  inculcate 
ourselves. 

The  same  remark  pertains  in  relation  to  the  class  of  per- 
sons who  really  and  motherly  attend  to  idiots.  Though 
generally  quite  illiterate,  some  of  these  attendants  soon 
develop  in  the  exercise  of  their  functions  moral  powers  which 
many  educated  persons  cannot  equal,  because  sociability,  not 
learning,  gives  it;  and  though  this  power  is  susceptible  of 
being  educated,  as  it  is  even  in  idiots,  it  looks  more  like  a 
gift  than  like  an  intellectual  faculty.  Whenever  that  gift 
manifests,  itself,  by  which  a  being  has  an  ascendency  over 
another,  we  recognize  in  it,  in  all  its  shapes  and  transforma- 
tions, the  qualification  for  the  exercise  of  moral  training;  we 
accept  its  concourse,  whether  perfected  by  education  or  not, 
because  it  qualifies  its  possessor  to  work  with  us  in  some 
capacity  or  another;  whenever  found,  it  is  the  superior  good- 
will ready  to  elevate  the  inferior  one. 

The  relations  which  this  power  establishes  are  those  of 
authority  to  obedience.  We  are  aware  that  these  relations  are 
in  a  very  confused  state,  as  well  in  schools  as  in  society. 
Authority  is  assumed  and  denied ;  obedience  is  exacted  and 
refused,  on  grounds  so  opposite  that  conciliation  seems  im- 
possible. However,  putting  aside  extreme  theories,  authority 
is,  like  obedience,  a  mere  function,  whose  existence  is  pro- 
voked by  corresponding  incapacities,  ceases  when  its  object  is 
accomplished,  and  is  no  more  inherent  to  the  individual  who 
happens  to  exercise  it,  than  his  coat  is  adherent  to  his  cellular 
tissue.  This  mild  view  of  social  equality  and  of  functional 
inequality  fits  exactly  the  exigencies  of  the  moral  treatment 
of  idiots. 


Moral  Treatment.  153 

Our  authority  over  them  does  not  derive  from  our  super- 
iority, but  from  the  desire  of  elevating  them  to  our  standard. 
Hence,  we  do  not  make  them  feel  authority  like  a  pressure, 
nor  obedience  like  a  subjection;  but  we  give  them  every 
opportunity  of  exercising  the  first  themselves  in  the  limits 
of  their  aptitude,  as  well  as  of  acting  under  the  reflex  impulse 
of  the  second,  whenever  their  spontaneous  impulse  is  yet 
deficient.  When  we  try  to  socialize  the  isolated  idiot,  we 
do  not  mean  to  teach  him  reading,  music,  etc.;  we  mean  to 
give  him  the  sense  and  the  power  of  establishing  in  the  limits 
of  his  capacity,  social  relations,  rapports  sociaux,  whose  ever- 
changing  scale  is  expressed  by  the  two  fixed  words,  rights 
and  duties.  Duties  being  less  imperative,  in  an  uneducated 
conscience,  than  rights,  we  have  often  to  enforce  the  former 
to  a  certain  extent  by  unmitigated  authority,  as  was  done 
for  mankind,  till  the  child  becomes  conscious  of  the  equiva- 
lence of  these  two  terms :  the  right  of  one  is  the  duty  of  all, 
the  duty  of  one  is  the  right  of  others.  Idiocy  being  isolation, 
its  victims  are  not  expected  to  be  carried,  when  already  quite 
old,  from  their  ambient  vacancy  into  a  world  of  contacts  and 
associations,  creating  incessant  rights  and  duties,  without 
difficulty  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  and  suffering  on  their 
own.  This  struggle  would  hardly  be  noticed  if  the  moral  treat- 
ment were  carried  on  by  the  parents  from  the  beginning. 
But  far  from  this ;  when  an  utter  neglect  does  not  prevail, 
a  mawkish  sensibility  opposes  itself  to  any  effect  at  improve- 
ment :  "  The  child  is  naturally  miserable  enough,  do  not 
contradict  him,"  says  the  mother.  And  the  child,  as  low  as 
we  can  suppose  him,  takes  heed  of  that  sickly  feeling,  and  will 
never  do  anything  until  he  is  kept  for  a  long  time  away  from 
this  deleterious  tenderness.  We  have  seen  idiots,  after  a  year 
of  obedience  and  contentment,  relapse  into  their  anti-social 
habits  at  the  sudden  reappearance  of  the  weak-hearted  person 
who  once  indulged  their  idiotic  propensities,  and  the  same 
children  resume  their  orderly  habits  at  her  exit.  But  soon, 
for  the  most  extreme  cases,  and  always  for  ordinary  ones, 
authority  need  not  present  itself  in  its  historical  features  of 
absolutism,  but  assumes  more  tender  forms  as  soon  as  it  is 
firmly  established. 


154  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

Nevertheless,  whatever  may  be  its  form,  authority,  to  be 
obeyed,  must  command;  in  the  varieties  of  its  expression, 
and  in  their  opportunity,  resides  a  large  part  of  the  moral 
power  of  the  commanding  over  the  commanded.  When  we 
consider  the  qualities  necessary  to  render  commandment 
eiiective,  we  soon  discover  that  those  of  speech  do  not  come 
in  the  first  rank ;  at  least  that  its  action  must  be  preceded  and 
corroborated  by  that  of  other  qualities  which  enter  for  very 
little,  if  for  anything,  into  ordinary  language.  Therefore  it 
would  be  useless  to  proceed  farther,  without  entering  into 
a  complete  anal3^sis  of  the  elements  of  command,  as  it  must 
be  used  with  idiots.  Leaving  aside  the  disputable  rank  of 
importance  of  these  elements,  we  shall  simply  present  them 
as  they  come  forth  in  reality. 

The  first  conditions  necessary  to  render  command  effective 
are  lineajnents  and  shape ;  the  second,  proportions  and  atti- 
tude. The  lineaments  of  the  face  or  its  features,  the  shape 
of  the  body  or  its  proportions,  may  offer  or  refuse  their  con- 
course to  command.  The  defects  of  the  former  are  nearly 
irremediable ;  those  of  the  latter  may  be  corrected.  It  is  thus 
that  certain  lineaments  impress  the  human  face  with  so  deep 
an  expression  that  no  other  can  ever  be  substituted;  or  are 
so  rigid  that  no  intellectual  or  passionate  meaning  can  pierce 
through  their  unmeaningness.  Nearly  the  same  thing  occurs 
with  the  shape  of  the  body  and  its  proportions;  some  are 
only  ludicrous,  and  cannot  conve}^  any  command ;  others  are 
set  naturally  in  such  attitudes  of  repose,  quietness,  or  the 
like,  as  to  counteract  any  command  to  action.  These  are  only 
a  few  of  the  ways  in  which  features,  proportions,  and  attitude 
may  impair  the  efficacy  of  authority.  The  exercise  of  these 
qualities  requires  a  good  organization,  mobility  of  the  parts, 
and  a  fair  sensibility,  easily  controlled  by  the  will :  with  these 
advantages,  the  face  and  body  are  ready  to  command. 

Though  the  eyes  are  a  part  of  the  features,  their  office  is 
so  important  that  they  are  to  be  considered  separately.  The 
look  is  the  passionate  centre  of  the  physiognomy ;  all  the  other 
parts  coordinate  their  expression  to  its,  unless  skilfully  con- 
tracted into  a  mendacious  expression,  which  the  eye  can  rarely 
imitate.  The  influence  of  this  organ,  as  an  instrument  of 
moral    training:,    cannot    be    overrated,    whether   we    consider    it 


Moral  Treatment.  155 

from  the  master's  or  from  the  pupil's  side.  For  if  the  look 
of  the  former  is  alternately  inquiring,  pressing,  exacting,  en- 
couraging, caressing,  etc.,  the  look  of  the  latter  is  avoiding, 
opposed,  submitted,  irate,  or  grateful,  borrowing  its  expres- 
sions from  feelings  incited  by  the  former.  To  obtain  this 
result,  the  master's  look  must  have  taken  possession  of  the 
other,  have  steadily  searched,  penetrated,  fixed,  led  it;  and 
here  the  constant  use  of  the  look,  already  described  in  the 
physiological  training,  is  found  corroborated  by  its  use  in 
moral  training,  and  vice  versa. 

The  influence  of  the  limbs  on  the  effectiveness  of  command 
is  equally  distinguishable  from  that  of  the  body  in  their 
ensemble.  The  way  in  which  we  stand  in  front  of  a  pupil  is 
not  indifferent;  and  our  foothold  tells  pretty  well  the  degree 
of  our  determination.  In  this  respect  the  various  positions 
of  the  legs,  and  consequently  of  the  rest  of  the  body,  are 
very  instructive.  How  many  things  our  attitude  alone  will 
command.  We  can  stand  before  an  idiot  so  that  he  will  re- 
main quiet;  we  may  stand  by  him  so  that  he  shall  hasten  his 
steps,  or  dignify  his  deportment,  etc.  The  arms  and  hands 
are  more  powerful  yet,  at  least  for  the  command  of  special 
movements.  The  finger  directs,  averts,  corrects,  threatens; 
the  hand  excites,  restrains,  forwards,  stops,  puts  down,  nearly 
all  expressions  of  activity.  A  waving  of  the  hand  cheers  and 
encourages;  a  warning  of  the  finger  cuts  down  an  incipient 
action ;  with  its  rise  and  fall  it  rules  the  tide  of  commanded  or 
forbidden  manifestations. 

But  how  far  is  the  easy,  monotonous,  inexpressive  gesture, 
Avhich  hardly  accentuates  our  ordinary  language,  from  im- 
pressing the  idiot,  not  only  with  our  meaning  but  with  our 
will.  Gesture  then  must  be  subjected  to  a  special  education 
to  acquire  precision,  correctness,  quickness,  cabundance  and 
emphasis ;  to  become  capable  of  speaking  of  itself,  or  to 
complete  language;  and  to  assume  the  force  and  fluency  of 
an  oration  that  the  eye  shall  follow  in  all  its  details  as  the 
ear  follows  a  spoken  one  in  its  meanderings :  on  this  condi- 
tion gesture  becomes  one  of  our  moral  powers. 

When  the  parts  of  the  body,  not  only  those  studied  above, 
but  all  fibres,  are  so  harmonized  for  the  mute  act  of  com- 
mand,  there   comes   forth    the   speech.     Not    that   speech   is 


156  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

necessarily  commanding;  like  gesture,  it  is  rarely  so  per  se, 
and  requires  a  good  deal  of  art  for  its  maturation.  Taking 
away  the  language  of  conversation,  inquiry,  reply,  narration, 
discourse,  recitation,  whose  expressions  are  unfit  for  our  object, 
what  is  left  of  ordinary  speech  to  accomplish  it?  Very  little, 
indeed;  nothing  but  the  potential  capacity  of  speaking  as  few 
men  ever  do — not  to  be  understood,  but  to  be  obeyed. 

For  idiots,  this  difference  between  the  varieties  of  speech 
is  deeper  yet.  Without  selecting  our  illustration  as  far  down 
as  the  children  who  do  not  pay  any  more  attention  to  language 
than  if  they  were  deaf,  we  find  the  majority  of  them  inat- 
tentive, unintelligent,  and  inobedient  to  common  speech.  This 
difficulty  admonishes  us  that  language,  even  as  a  means  of 
communication,  but  more  particularly  as  a  mode  of  ascend- 
ency, is  to  be  heightened  above  its  ordinary  expressions  to 
impress  idiots.  Voice  and  intonation,  articulation  and  accent, 
rests  and  emphasis,  are  to  be  omitted,  not  as  syllables  fol- 
lowing each  other  in  a  stream  of  uniform  flow,  but  as  musical 
notes  on  the  superposed  keys  of  the  gamut.  Purity  of  voice, 
variety  of  intonation,  correctness  of  articulation,  etc.,  would 
be  expended  in  vain  if  they  were  not  entirely  adapted  to  the 
desired  object,  and  besides,  to  the  condition  of  the  child  at 
the  time  we  address  him ;  so  that  not  only  every  word  is  to 
be  invested  with  a  different  physiognomy  in  each  command, 
but  if  the  same  command  is  to  be  repeated,  each  word  of  it 
must  be  accentuated  at  each  repetition,  according  to  the  degree 
of  attention  previously  paid,  or  supposed  to  be  next  given  to 
it.  In  this  manner,  an  order  completely  unintelligible,  or 
unenforcible  at  a  single  command,  will  become  understood 
and  enforced  after  several  repetitions,  each  one  representing 
a  forcible  commentary  of  some  of  its  parts,  and  all  of  them 
the  whole  of  it.  If  this  precept  of  commanding  by  words 
is  too  simple  to  be  comprehended,  we  will  exemplify  it  in 
this  wise.  Suppose  the  objects  known,  the  master  orders  the 
child  to  put  a  book  on  the  table.  "  Put  this  book  on  the 
table,"  he  says,  in  the  ordinary  tone ;  and  the  child,  half  listen- 
ing, does  not  quite  understand,  and  does  not  obey  at  all. 
Whereupon  the  master  repeats  successively :  "  PUT 
the  book  on  the  table;"  and  the  child  takes  the 
book,     keeping     it     in     his     hand,  not     knowing     what     to 


Moral  Treatment.  157 

do  with  it.  "PUT  the  book  on  the  TABLE,"  says 
the  master  again;  and  the  child  approaches  the  table,  book 
in  hand,  uncertain  yet  what  relation  to  establish  between 
the  two  known  terms — book  and  table.  But  the  master  con- 
tinues :  "  PUT  the  book  ON  the  table ;  "  and  the  child  places 
it  on  the  table.  The  next  time  he  is  told  to  put  the  slate 
on  the  table,  the  dumb-bells  under  it,  the  balancing-pole 
near  it,  and  the  cage  above  it;  a  slight  emphasis  upon  these 
words  shall  suffice;  and  more  obedience  will  became  easy  in 
the  same  progression.  By  this  example  we  do  not  mean  to 
prescribe  identically  for  other  cases;  often  the  verb  has  to 
be  presented  prominently  in  various  ways ;  once  for  its  mean- 
ing, and  several  times  for  its  commanding  value,  expressed 
by  the  imperative  mood.  Moreover,  each  child  obeys  more 
or  less  easily;  each  child  understands  differently  the  rela- 
tions to  be  established  between  objects  by  his  own  actions; 
consequently  the  same  order  cannot  be  imposed  upon  two 
children  with  the  same  voice,  accent,  etc.,  in  the  individual 
teaching. 

But  when  we  come  to  the  training  of  groups,  in  which  we 
require  less  attention  and  more  spontaneity,  in  which  we 
teach  less  new  things  than  simultaneity  of  comprehension,  or 
of  execution,  then  the  moral  power  of  command  assumes  more 
the  forms  of  an  artistic  action ;  the  master  really  acting  before 
and  for  an  audience,  whose  mean  average  intellect  he  reaches 
or  misses,  according  to  his  present  power,  or  to  the  correct- 
ness of  his  own  judgment  at  the  appointed  time.  Who  has 
taught  idiots,  and  not  felt  once  in  a  while,  when  sick  or  labor- 
ing under  mental  depression,  that  all  his  powers  failed  him, 
that  those  once  sovereign  commands,  which  but  lately  could 
carry  the  children  through  almost  any  undertaking,  cannot 
move  them  to-day,  and  fall  like  broken  arrows  at  their  feet? 
This  failure,  which  every  one  of  us  has  felt,  is  the  most 
eloquent  demonstration  of  the  reality  of  the  moral  power, 
by  which  man  acts  upon  man,  as  upon  plastic  matter. 

Thus  command  is  expressed  by  attitude,  corroborated  by 
gesture,  animated  by  physiognomy,  flashed  by  the  look,  made 
passionate  by  the  voice,  commented  upon  by  the  accent, 
strengthened  by  the  articulation,  imposed  by  the  emphasis, 
and  carried  by  the  whole  power  of  the  stronger  on  the  weaker 


158  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

will.  This  power,  as  expressed  here  in  the  abstract,  would 
be  the  most  wearisome  attribute  of  its  possessor,  and  the 
heaviest  burden  on  children,  if  it  were  not  incessantly  modi- 
fied by  circumstances,  and  by  passing  from  one  person  to 
another;  passage  in  which  it  loses  its  tension  for  the  master, 
and  its  grim  appearance  for  the  child.  Moreover,  for  reasons 
easily  understood,  and  insisted  upon  afterwards,  the  moral 
power  of  command  must  not  be  always  exercised  immediately, 
directly  and  from  man  to  man;  but  by  a  law  of  descending 
gradation,  it  becomes  from  immediate,  mediate,  contingent, 
negative,  etc.  It  is  also  modified  by  habits,  studies,  moral 
progress,  etc.  These  forms  and  circumstances  varying  ad  in- 
Unitum  by  their  own  combinations  with  the  variety  of  char- 
acter, we  shall  treat  them  abstractly,  as  if  they  were  invari- 
able: sole  expedient  to  give  them  a  fixed  type. 

Immediate  command,  the  most  stringent,  sometimes  pain- 
ful, must  be  too  often  supported  at  the  start  by  coercion.  If 
idiots  were  all  brought  up  by  intelligent  parents,  and  in  suf- 
ficient comfort,  they  would  have  no  occasion  to  oppose  the 
asperities  of  their  negative  will  to  the  moral  influence  which 
tries  to  elevate  them.  But  oppression  everywhere  creates 
opposition,  and  the  idiot  as  well  as  any  other  man  tells 
pretty  well  the  tale  of  his  past  sufiferings  by  his  degree  of 
resistance  to  any  improving  intervention.  No  is  his  first 
word ;  negation  is  his  first  action ;  he  spends  more  strength, 
and  often  more  ingenuity  in  resisting  than  he  would  require 
in  obeying;  he  will  not.  He  will  not,  but  we  will  for  him. 
Here  is  the  point  where  coercion,  when  necessary,  assumes 
its  importance.  Corporal  punishment  is  out  of  the  ques- 
tion, but  compulsion  is  not,  because  it  must  be  used,  or 
idiocy  would  be  stronger  than  sociability.  Coercion  is  pain- 
ful, but  less  so  than  the  shower  bath,  cold  affusion,  straight- 
jacket,  etc.  Imperative  command  is  painful,  but  not  in  the 
same  manner  as  underhand  and  fruitless  brutalities  of  serv- 
ants and  keepers,  doleful  lot  of  uneducated  idiots.  On  this 
head  let  us  ponder  what  Leuret  courageously  and  frankly 
says :  "  My  object  is  not  to  cure  by  one  means  or  another, 
Ibut  by  any  possible  means ;  and  if  to  cure  my  patient  I  must 
appear  hard  and  even  unjust  towards  him,  why  should  I 
recoil  from  the  use  of  such  agencies?     Should  I  be  afraid  of 


Moral  Treatment.  159 

making  him  suffer?  Strange  pity?  As  well  bind  the  arms 
of  the  surgeon  ready  to  perform  an  operation  necessary  to 
save  the  life  of  his  patient  under  the  plea  that  such  operation 
could  not  be  performed  without  suffering.  A  man  has  the 
stone;  gorge  him  with  flax-seed  tea,  daub  him  with  poultices 
sooner  than  to  relieve  him  by  a  painful  operation.  *  *  *  * 
Whatever  be  the  cost  to  your  personal  feelings,  let  us  have  the 
courage  of  the  surgeon;  our  instruments  are  the  passions  and 
ideas ;  let  us  employ  them,  even  the  painful  ones  if  necessary." 
This  rule  of  conduct,  traced  by  a  master  in  the  art  of  moral 
training,  is  worth  treasuring.  Leuret  says  besides :  "  Physi- 
cal pain  serve  the  insane  and  idiots  as  other  men,  as  a  means 
of  education;  it  is  one  of  the  motors  which  lead  us  to  avoid 
the  wrong  and  to  search  for  the  right;  but  it  is  not  always 
necessary."  And  from  our  own  experience,  let  us  add  that 
where  coercion  is  necessary,  it  lasts  but  a  short  time  if  prop- 
erly handled.  Indeed,  the  stronger  is  the  coercion,  the 
shorter  is  the  struggle,  the  less  is  the  suffering.  Idiots 
know  this,  and  whatever  may  be  their  low  condition,  they 
understand  our  meaning,  can  measure  the  opposed  forces, 
and  will  behave  accordingly. 

Fortunately,  coercion  need  not  often  be  called  to  the  sup- 
port of  immediate  command,  which  is  itself  an  instrument 
of  great  power.  For,  to  command  immediately  means  to 
command  without  the  mediation  of  anything  or  anybody; 
means  to  employ  the  forms  of  command  which  can  directly 
touch  the  child,  and  take  an  anticipated  direction  of  his 
contingent  doings.  For  instance,  if  when  ordering  an  immobile 
idiot  to  move  the  dumb-bells,  we  stand  in  front  of  him,  near 
enough,  and  in  the  most  immediate  conditions,  he  will  do 
it;  but  if  for  the  same  object  we  stand  at  his  side,  though 
everything  else  be  as  imperative,  we  see  his  hand  on  our 
side  working  the  dumb-bell  and  the  opposite  hand  motion- 
less, disobeying,  because  for  the  former  hand  our  command 
was  actually  immediate,  whilst  it  was  not  so  for  the  second. 
And  this  difference  is  the  more  surprising  if  we  consider 
that  the  simple  balancing  of  the  dumb-bells  is  a  coordinate 
movement  of  both  sides  of  the  body,  whose  symmetrical 
duality  is  the  rule,  whose  dissymmetry  cannot  be  produced 
but  by  a  special  effort  of  the  will,  of  which  idiots  do  not 


i6o  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

seem  capable.  Here,  evidently,  the  propulsor  of  the  child 
was  outside  of  him;  felt  only  by  immediate  contact  and 
adaptation  of  our  faculties  to  his  organs,  and  impotent  at  a 
greater  distance.  But  we  must  remark,  as  a  warning,  that 
immediate  does  not  mean  incessant,  and  that  this  severe 
form  of  authority,  well  managed,  does  not  require  to  be 
used  many  times,  nor  in  serial  succession,  to  produce  its 
desired  effect;  but  that  soon  the  command  may  be  allowed 
to  drop,  as  it  were  inadvertently,  some  of  its  stringent  pres- 
sure; or  to  present  itself  here  in  its  armor  of  battle,  there 
in  the  more  pleasant  dress  of  the  mediate  command. 

The  mediate  command  is  one  given  in  such  circumstances 
that  the  child  can  disobey  it  if  he  choose ;  as  across  a  large 
table;  from  one  end  of  a  room  or  garden  to  the  other;  in 
the  middle  of  a  group  of  other  children ;  when  that  command 
interrupts  a  more  pleasing  occupation;  or  when  it  must  be 
obeyed  after  a  certain  time  has  elapsed.  Thus,  in  the  medi- 
ate command,  there  is  a  medium  of  space,  time,  object,  or 
person  between  us  and  the  child;  and  moreover,  that  medium 
may  be  temporary  or  permanent,  insignificant,  effective,  or 
absolute,  representing  the  degree  of  trust  which  we  can 
repose  in  the  good  faith  and  good-will  of  the  child;  it 
embraces  a  wide  range  of  relations. 

Before  going  further  in  our  analysis  of  the  various  com- 
mands, we  are  to  see  what  can  be  commanded  successfully 
or  not.  To  the  idiot  who  will  do  nothing,  we  have  to  com- 
mand something;  but  the  nature  of  that  something  is,  at  the 
start,  of  the  utmost  importance.  At  first  the  idiot  is  deter- 
mined to  do  nothing;  we  are  equally  determined  to  make 
him  do  something;  thus  matters  stand.  Will  the  idiot,  or 
we,  succeed?  Can  he  resist  our  will,  or  can  we  overcome 
his  negation?  And  if  we  have  the  will  necessary  to  suc- 
ceed, have  we  the  knowledge  of  the  series  of  actions  that 
we  can,  or  cannot,  oblige  him  to  do?  For  if  we  cannot  enforce 
our  first  command,  the  idiot  will  feel  superior  to  us,  and 
many  trials  will  be  in  store  before  the  legitimate  accendency 
can  be  established.  Therefore  the  line  of  demarcation 
between  that  which  the  child  can  safely  refuse  to  do,  and 
that  which  he  may  be  obliged  to  perform,  is  of  great  prac- 
tical value.     We  establish  that  line  by  observing  that  it  is 


Moral  Treatment.  i6i 

generally  easier  to  repress  than  to  produce  actions;  and  that 
the  idiot  may  sooner  be  refrained  in  his  instinctive  mani- 
festations, than  forced  to  produce  some  intelligent  ones :  this 
is  the  line.  Our  first  orders,  therefore,  those  which  must 
be  obeyed,  or  else  the  whole  treatment  is  compromised, 
must  be  chosen  from  the  class  of  the  things  which  can  be 
made  to  be.  For  instance,  we  must  not  order,  at  first,  a 
child  to  open  his  mouth,  for  what  power  on  earth  can  make 
him  open  it  if  he  will  keep  it  closed  against  your  order? 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  what  opposition  can  he  offer  to  our 
command  not  to  scratch  his  face,  if  we  occupy  his  hands 
at  a  distance,  at  the  same  time  that  we  forbid  him  to  do  it? 
Consequently,  let  us  only  command  at  first  that  which  we 
have  the  power  of  enforcing;  and  when  the  child  shall  feel, 
after  a  succession  of  such  commands,  that  he  must  obey,  we 
surreptitiously  introduce  others  of  a  more  arbitrary  nature, 
to  which  he  submits  himself  without  noticing  their  differ- 
ence from  the  first;  and  soon  he  obeys  any  order  of  ours, 
not  because  he  cannot  avoid  it,  but  because  he  feels  that 
he  ought  to  do  it,  and  finally,  because  he  likes  to  please  us 
in  so  doing. 

Then  the  milder  form  of  command,  postponed  to  make 
room  for  his  explanation,  will  be  resumed.  The  most  com- 
prehensive form  is  the  contingent,  conditional,  or  even  simply 
optional,  which  may  depend  upon  actions  of  the  child,  or 
of  others,  present,  past,  or  future  events ;  taste,  and  con- 
tingencies calculated  to  leave  more  room  for  deliberation  in 
obedience.  These  pre-arranged  conditions  must  be  simple, 
and  immediately  precede  the  required  action ;  but  later  some 
interval  may  be  left  between  them,  and  more  time  allowed 
for  remembrance  and  reflection;  more  to  evoke  and  draw 
conclusions,  and  more  to  think  before  acting,  to  favor  the 
rise  of  consciousness.  In  this  degradation  of  the  original 
command,  the  passiveness  of  primitive  obedience  has  made 
room,  little  by  little,  for  the  judicious  execution  of  orders; 
this  is  not  yet  spontaneity,  but  discriminative  obedience. 

At  this  time,  other  forms  of  command  succeed;  negative, 
that  which  results  from  not  leaving  any  room  for  disobedi- 
ence,  letting   circumstances   themselves    impose    the    order; 
silent,  when  the  simple  presence  of  the  master,  near  or  dis- 
II 


i62  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

tant,  is  sufficient  to  renew  the  vividness  of  past  orders;  imita- 
tive, when  the  preconcerted  action  of  other  children  carries 
with  itself  an  implicit  command  to  do  the  same;  attractive, 
when  showing  the  pleasant  result  of  an  act,  we  make  our 
child  venture  to  do  the  same;  but  at  this  extreme  limit  of 
mitigation,  command  loses  its  name  with  the  remnant  of  its 
harsh  features ;  and  authority  is  no  more  than  a  watching 
kindness. 

Command,  of  whatever  character,  is  alleviated  besides  by 
the  variety  of  its  modes  of  application.  Where  children  are 
submitted  to  protracted  sittings  under  a  single  rule  and  for 
a  single  object,  command  is  depressing;  but  when,  as  in  our 
case,  the  rotatory  system  transfers  incessantly  the  children 
from  occupation  to  pleasure,  lesson,  exercise,  labor,  excite- 
ment, etc.,  the  forms  of  command  must  vary  to  meet  the 
feelings  of  indifference,  pleasure,  antipathy,  attraction,  resist- 
ance successively  provoked ;  and  the  result  is  not  depression, 
but  elasticity  favored  by  the  constant  action  of  the  masters 
on  the  children,  and  vice  versa. 

Another  mitigation  of  the  harshness  inherent  to  authority 
results  from  the  different  characters  of  those  exercising  it. 
The  child  who  breathes  constantly  under  the  sledge-hammer 
of  not  unfrequent  paternal  rigor,  presents  a  narrow  chest; 
the  idiot  commanded  in  the  same  way  becomes  automatical, 
even  in  his  intellectual  acquisitions,  nearly  as  much  so  as  he 
was  in  his  primary  isolation.  But  the  rotatory  system  of 
training  idiots,  and  its  consequence,  the  natural  division  of 
the  functions,  accomplished  in  their  behalf  by  persons  so 
indifferent  in  their  moral  powers  as  attendants,  teachers, 
gymnasts,  matrons,  physicians,  does  not  permit  authority  to 
typify  itself,  even  one  hour  at  a  time,  in  one  of  those  oppres- 
sive modes  which  leaves  a  depressed  imprint  on  a  child.  If 
the  teacher  has  been  protracting  his  attention,  the  attendant 
soon  invites  him  to  a  pleasant  song;  if  the  series  of  numbers 
have  been  piled  up  on  the  black-board,  scores  of  harmonies 
from  the  piano  take  their  place ;  if  the  gymnast  has  used  a 
hand  to  redness,  the  doctor  pats  it  gently,  at  the  same  time 
that  he  makes  sure  of  the  sanitary  condition  of  the  skin, 
look,  pulse,  etc.  This  variety  in  the  manner  of  handling  idiots 
precludes  monotony  and  aggravations.     Ordered  in  so  many 


Moral  Treatment.  163 

ways,  the  child  passes  from  one  commander  to  another,  with- 
out suspecting  that  he  is  passive.  This  supple  and  mobile 
passivity  itself  becomes  in  a  certain  sense  active,  and  obedi- 
ence becomes  a  voluntary  action  by  the  simple  effect  of  timely 
variety  and  gradual  relaxation  of  authority:  the  bird  is  free 
to  soar  in  all  healthy  directions,  if  he  will. 

Does  this  mean  that  our  work  is  done;  that  we  are  no 
more  wanted,  nor  our  authority  required;  that  the  moral 
treatment  has  exhausted  itself;  and  that  the  negative  will 
being  broken,  obedience  secure,  we  must  rest  satisfied  in 
presence  of  our  work,  an  unresisting,  obedient' child?  No: 
evidently  we  have  come  to  the  bifurcation  of  the  road  leading 
to  passivity  or  to  spontaneity,  whence  our  pupil  may  start 
for  a  reflex  life,  whose  spring  shall  be  in  others'  hands,  or  for 
a  self-regulating  life,  whose  spring  is  within  his  conscience. 
Whole  nations  and  millions  of  men  are  yet  deprived  of  this 
consciousness  of  their  station  in  ambient  society  by  the  total 
deprivation  of  moral  training.  And  yet,  it  would  not  be  dif- 
ficult to  point  out  young  men,  former  pupils  of  our  institutions, 
generally  from  among  the  most  distressing  cases  of  super- 
ficial idiocy,  who  certainly  could  not  have  been  improved 
anywhere  else;  and  who,  to-day,  are  far  above  the  average 
of  men  in  regard  to  the  regulation  of  their  actions  by  their 
own  conscience  of  right  and  wrong.  True,  there  are  not 
many  such ;  but  the  majority  of  the  others,  remaining  back- 
ward owing  to  their  yet  feeble  intellects,  can  govern  them- 
selves under  a  slight  and  benevolent  supervision ;  since  idiots 
once  trained  do  not  require  for  the  maintenance  of  their 
social  behavior  anything  equivalent  to  policemen,  gendarmes, 
etc. ;  kindness,  not  force,  is  their  tutor,  as  it  was  their  teacher. 

We  bring  them  to  this  point  of  moralization,  generally  far 
superior  to  their  intellectual  standard,  by  extreme  care  and 
affection,  but  easily  enough;  because  their  infirmity,  in 
uncomplicated  states,  affects  the  perceptive  faculties,  even  the 
spontaneity,  but  does  not  create  any  aberration  of  the  affective 
faculties,  as  does  imbecility,  or  some  special  forms  of  insanity. 
Consequently,  our  success  in  this  matter,  which  is  of  the 
utmost  importance,  must  be  considered  due  as  much  to  their 
good  nature  as  to  our  own  exertions.  Nevertheless,  whatever 
could  be  their  share  and  ours  in  the  result,  to  obtain  it  we 


164  Idiocy  J  and  Its  Treatment. 

cannot  too  soon  commingle  the  incitations  to  spontaneity  with 
the  most  passive  or  unwilled  exercises  of  the  training.  Long 
before  we  have  done  away  with  commanding  under  all  the 
forms  narrated  above,  we  must  begin  concurrently  to  use  the 
gentler  forms  of  inducement,  which  conduct  the  child  insen- 
sibly from  the  diverse  degrees  of  obedience  to  earnest  self- 
government.  Those  forms  we  call  incitations  to  spontaneity, 
unless  we  employ  the  words  motor,  mover,  or  motive,  which- 
ever may  best  express  our  meaning,  or  be  understood.  Hence- 
forth, we  do  not  command,  we  incite ;  we  put  the  child  in  con- 
tact with  motives,  and  he  moves;  we  create  for  him,  in  the 
artificial  atmosphere  of  the  institution,  the  same  relations 
which  impel  men  of  the  world  to  action,  and  he  acts;  we  pre- 
sent to  him  attractions,  and  he  is  attracted  in  the  measure  of 
his  attractability.  Hence,  he  desires,  tries,  plans,  succeeds, 
fails,  gets  elated  or  discouraged,  loves  and  feels  of  his  own 
free  will,  as  he  would  under  the  incitations,  apparently  acci- 
dental, of  social  life ;  the  only  difference  being,  that  we  have 
prepared  and  graduated  to  his  proportions  the  contacts  to 
be  encountered,  or  the  obstacles  to  be  overcome,  whilst,  in 
ordinary  social  life,  such  earthly  providence  is  not  to  be 
expected.  This  begins  at  the  lowest  point  of  animal  life,  but 
we  shall  not  choose  our  illustrations  lower  than  the  act  of 
feeding. 

When  an  idiot  commences,  not  to  receive,  but  to  take  his 
food,  we  overlook,  for  our  present  object,  the  coarse  tearing 
of  the  meat,  the  hasty  swallowing  without  mastication,  and 
other  depravities  equally  repugnant  and  unhealthy,  to  con- 
sider only  how  intensely  animal  and  selfish  he  is  in  his  action ; 
how  much  more  he  needs  the  spiritual  than  the  material  nutri- 
ment of  bread ;  and  our  duty  becomes  manifest  to  make  him 
understand  the  book  of  wisdom  contained  in  a  mouthful. 
As  he  was  himself  fed  by  others'  hands,  as  soon  as  he  can 
carry  a  morsel  to  his  own  mouth,  he  must  be  made  to  pre- 
sent the  same  to  some  children  incapable,  in  different  ways, 
of  feeding  themselves.  He  must  be  made,  besides,  to  feed 
animals  chosen  for  the  lessons  he  may  get  from  their  per- 
spicuity of  sense,  vivacity  of  movement,  and  neatness  in  eat- 
ing. But  these  incitations  by  the  example  of  animals  must 
be  carefully  selected,  otherwise  from  some  of  them  he  might 


Moral  Treatment.  165 

learn  vicious  modes  of  mastication,  or  excessive  appetite  for 
flesh,  or  even  confirm  himself  in  his  greediness.  Then  he 
must  be  placed  at  table  next  persons  who  give  constant  good 
examples,  who  timely  correct  his  bad  habits,  and  admonish 
him  orally  with  great  discretion,  for  appetite  is  deaf. 

Appetite  naturally  speaking  louder  than  morality,  the 
voice  of  the  first  must  be  lowered,  that  of  the  second 
heightened.  For  this  reason,  we  should  not  make  them  eat 
in  large  groups,  within  sight  of  huge  dishes ;  but  they  should 
be  served  in  small  rooms.  Being  few  at  a  family-like  table,  they 
have  to  wait  long  enough  to  give  each  one  the  chance  of 
controlling  the  beast  which  is  inside  his  stomach ;  not  so 
long  as  to  let  it  loose  in  disgraceful  manifestations.  The  same 
scrupulous  care  will  direct  the  apportioning  of  the  children's 
food.  Not  only  the  cut  or  measure  requires  an  ever-changing 
discretion  to  meet  the  requirements  of  changing  appetites 
and  climatic  circumstances;  but  the  hand  responsible  for  this 
duty  must  never  appear  tired  or  careless ;  for  often  the  child 
despises  his  food,  or  eats  it  grossly,  because  it  was  carelessly 
served  or  handed  to  him.  In  the  same  train  of  care  and  deli- 
cacy, as  soon  as  convenient,  the  children  should  be  made  to 
wait  upon  each  other,  with  order  and  decorum.  How  can 
we  make  them  do  it?  Not  by  telling,  arguing,  threatening;  for 
we  repeat  it,  hunger  is  deaf;  but  by  the  incitations  of  example 
from  birds,  animals,  other  children,  and  mostly  from  our- 
selves ;  the  best  example  is  our  own.  We  must  be  their 
teachers  in  this,  by  being  their  servants ;  our  serving  teach- 
ing them  to  serve  others  by  imitation,  emulation,  ambition 
even;  do  they  not  want  to  do  as  the  teacher  does?  When 
this  ambition  begins  to  produce  its  normal  effect,  we  open  a 
new  issue  to  their  mind  through  their  food,  by  asking  if  they 
have  produced  or  helped  to  prepare  it;  what  part  they  had 
in  this,  what  part  others,  etc.  Then  we  must  make  them 
realize,  in  a  tangible  manner,  that  the  food  they  will  take, 
and  which  shall  sustain  their  vitality,  is  the  result  of  the 
concourse  and  combined  efforts  of  hundreds  of  their  fellow- 
men,  who  have  contributed  it  for  their  comfort.  We  must 
make  them  aware  of  their  relations  to  those  who  have  worked 
and  suffered  as  farmers,  gardeners,  bakers,  to  produce  this 
food,    and    to    those   who,    less    fortunate,    hunger   and    have 


i66  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

nothing  to  eat.  In  this  spirit,  the  idiots  of  Bicetre  repeated 
before  meals  the  following  blessing:  "  Our  Father,  bless  the 
food  we  have  before  us,  and  so  let  it  be  that  the  poorest  have 
the  same.  Amen."  Another  equivalent,  after  meals,  and 
others  adapted  to  their  studies,  work,  etc.  By  no  means 
would  we  have  it  surmised  that  we  were  participants  in  any 
mummery ;  but  we  tried  in  simple  words  to  convey  to  simple 
children  the  simplest  ideas  of  equity  and  reciprocity  between 
men  under  the  Supreme  Justice,  and  we  think  our  efforts 
were  partially  successful. 

Another  prominent  occasion  for  the  application  of  the 
moral  treatment  is  the  work.  But  here  the  subject  is  so  vast 
that  we  cannot  even  pretend  to  mention  all  its  important 
points.  Idiots  must  be  made  to  work  for  a  result.  That 
result,  or  product,  must  be  sensible  and  comprehensible  in 
proportion  to  their  perception  and  intellect;  must  be,  at 
first,  of  personal  and  immediate  use,  such  as  to  draw  water 
to  quench  actual  thirst,  or  pull  up  from  the  garden  vegetables 
to  eat  presently,  etc.  The  next  and  complementary  step 
leads  them  to  do  the  same,  or  similar  work,  for  the  satisfac- 
tion of  others.  Soon,  again,  they  must  be  made  to  work  in 
cooperation ;  several  to  help  one,  one  to  help  several,  one 
helped  for  his  own  good,  or  helping  for  the  advantage  of 
others ;  all  manner  of  solidarity,  either  in  the  work,  or  in  its 
result;  working  as  a  social  element,  as  a  moral  status. 

But  here  we  speak  of  enforcing  the  moral  and  social  duty 
of  working,  upon  unfortunate  children  scarcely  reclaimed 
from  their  nothingness,  before  inquiring  if  they  are  in  a 
condition  to  support,  like  all  of  us,  the  tedious  and  exhausting 
burden  of  labor.  Men  must  work  because  working  is  the 
only  way  of  producing;  and  produce  we  must,  since  we 
consume.  Idiots  escape  that  law  as  long  as  their  infirmity 
incapacitates  them ;  otherwise  they  too  must  work  in  the  pro- 
portion to  their  strength  and  capacity.  But  all  that  could 
be  expected  of  the  most  successfully  strengthened  and  edu- 
cated among  them,  is  from  four  to  five  hours'  labor  a  day; 
just  the  share  of  each  one  of  us  if  all  were  working. 

But  can  the  idiot  be  made  to  work  in  competitive  industry, 
where  steam  and  machinery  force  production  every  day  to 
an  extent  unknown  the  day  before,  and  reduce  proud  man- 


Moral  Treatment.  167 

kind  to  the  shape  and  degradation  of  the  stunted,  sallow,  and 
sullen  workmen  of  Lyons,  Lille,  Manchester,  Birmingham, 
etc.  If  idiots  are  to  be  so  employed,  it  were  better  to  leave 
them  in  their  primary  condition.  Nevertheless,  we  do  not 
ignore  that  some  idiots  manifest  peculiar  tendencies  which  can 
be  utilized  in  one  mechanical  trade  or  another.  Where  such 
strong  natural  ability  exists,  let  it  be  followed  up,  if  the  child 
himself  can  derive  profit  and  mental  happiness  from  its  prose- 
cution. But  this  peculiarity  does  not  belong  to  a  class;  being 
only  the  strange  gift  of  one  in  many,  it  cannot  justify  their 
miscellaneous  packing  in  shops.  The  very  few  in-door  labors 
they  can  be  put  to  are  more  or  less  connected  with  the  various 
departments  of  housekeeping.  In  this  line,  children  feel  the 
solidarity  of  the  principle,  understanding  easily  that  they  work 
for  themselves  and  friends;  if  they  do  not  make  money  by  it, 
they  gather  a  harvest  of  sense,  of  order  and  mutual  depend- 
ence, with  appropriate  feelings  and  ideas  related  to  their 
position  and  social  standing.  Otherwise,  and  under  any  other 
circumstances,  they  must  work  as  much  as  possible  with  the 
concourse  of  nature,  and  with  the  genial  cooperation  of  the 
sun.  By  all  means  we  must  let  this  be  their  life  in  the  insti- 
tution. 

The  relations  of  money  to  food  and  to  labor  are  to  be 
presented  to  such  of  the  children  as  can  understand  them, 
in  the  most  practical  form;  their  own  books  establishing  the 
balance  of  their  accounts  with  the  institution;  each  child 
credited  with  the  value  of  his  work,  and  debited  with  his 
expenses.  When  they  have  followed  a  class  of  pricing  (as 
we  understand  there  is  one  in  the  Earlswood  Institution, 
England),  for  usual  objects,  with  critical  observations  on 
the  qualities  requisite  in  each,  such  as  shoes,  books,  gloves, 
needles,  etc.,  we  send  them  to  make  experimental  purchases 
with  their  own  earned  money,  and  let  them  and  the  other 
children  debate  together  the  result  of  these  foreign  operations. 

As  a  set-off  and  compensation  for  so  much  care  heaped 
on  frail  beings,  we  devote  as  much  time  as  we  can  to  the 
most  sensible  of  our  duties,  to  make  them  merry  and  gav 
in  innocent  relaxation.  Those  who  have  seen  idiots,  at  the 
second  stage  of  their  education,  so  shy  under  a  strict  rule, 
so  daring  in  the  play-room,  will  readily  understand  our  mean- 


i68  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

ing.  But  it  takes  a  long  intimacy  with  the  sterner  forms  of 
the  infirmity  to  get  at  the  mystery  of  the  silent  progress 
accomplished  by  the  lowest  idiots,  during  the  first  and  nearly 
despairing  period  of  their  training,  when  admitted  to  witness 
the  liveliness  of  the  play-room.  There,  the  pleasures  enjoyed 
by  the  more  forward  pupils  have  a  reflex  influence  of  a  curious 
character  upon  the  worst  cases ;  the  immovable  feel  reflectively 
the  exaltation  of  the  impressible ;  they  enjoy  through  the  joy 
of  others,  and  seem  to  prepare  themselves  for  future  like 
enjoyment,  by  occasional  twitching  of  some  muscles,  more 
abundant  dribbling  of  saliva,  or  an  erratic  smile ;  as  we  see 
the  chrysalis  moving  its  future  wings  under  the  bearings  of 
its  dirty  gray  cocoon. 

But  the  feelings  of  idiots  are  not  all  of  an  indescribable 
nature;  on  the  contrary,  what  the  majority  of  them  feel, 
whether  jo}^  or  sorrow,  they  express  openly  and  accurately. 
If  any  person  coming  among  them  be  indifferent  or  attractive, 
we  see  it  reflected  on  their  face ;  if  the  entertainment  pre- 
pared for  them  be  pleasant  or  not,  we  read  it  in  their 
countenance ;  and  it  requires  a  pretty  good  insight  into  their 
character  to  hit  the  mark.  Therefore  the  actings  performed 
to  please  them,  with  the  concourse  of  some  of  their  number, 
as  in  Syracuse,  Media,  Barre,  and  Earlswood,  are  to  be 
planned  by  their  best  friends  and  teachers,  who  become  for  the 
occasion  impressarios,  managers,  and  costumers.  It  is  aston- 
ishing to  see  how  real  idiots  enjoy  these  representations ;  and 
it  is  touching  to  see  them  trying  to  bring  the  acting  to  the 
understanding  of  their  lowest  fellows.  Next  to  these  stately 
representations,  and  several  times  a  week,  comes  dancing, 
and  many  times  a  day  comes  music. 

Promenades  for  a  short  distance,  excursions  farther,  must 
be  of  frequent  occurrence.  Not  that  we  advise  them  for  the 
mere  object  of  airing  the  children,  or  of  improving  their 
physical  health,  but  to  prepare  a  special  end  to  them  each 
time ;  and  although  that  end  will  not  always  directly  have 
a  moral  object,  yet  the  children  will  contract  by  it  the  moral 
habit  of  giving  an  object  to  each  of  their  actions,  and  of 
planning  and  expecting  a  return  from  each  of  their  under- 
takings :  conclusions  highly  moralizing  of  themselves.  There- 
fore, if  we  often  send  some  children  to  carry  objects  of  com- 


Moral  Treatment.  169 

fort  to  a  destitute  family  in  the  neighborhood,  we  send  them 
too  on  the  beach  to  collect  shells,  or  in  the  meadow  for  violets; 
the  woods  will  furnish  them  one  day  with  green  leaves, 
another  with  russet  or  red  ones;  at  one  time,  at  our  sugges- 
tion, they  hunt  for  the  smallest,  at  another  for  the  largest 
leaves ;  again,  for  blue  or  red  berries,  or  for  nuts,  acorns,  etc. 
The  very  stones  may  be  collected  on  the  way,  according  to 
color,  form,  or  size;  we  must  never  let  our  pupils  return 
empty-handed. 

The  institution  is  never  so  far  from  a  city  that  its  inmates 
cannot  be  admitted  to  the  sights  of  civilization  and  wonder. 
We  must  beware  of  too  much  isolating  the  naturally  isolated 
idiot.  By  sending  him,  as  soon  as  he  behaves,  to  church,  to 
the  museum,  meetings,  shows,  and  even  theatres,  we  do  not 
so  much  create  in  him  a  taste  for  those  things,  as  a  desire  of 
mingling  with  yonder  world;  pregnant  curiosity,  which  is  of 
itself  one  of  the  mainsprings  of  life.  Besides  these  amuse- 
ments, Christmas,  New  Year's  day,  and  other  holidays  should 
be  duly  observed. 

The  children  must  have  stores  of  playthings  easily  destroyed 
and  renewed.  Before  leaving  these  in  their  hands,  we  can- 
not avoid  remarking  that  there  are  none  of  them  which  have 
not  certain  qualities  and  effects,  in  relation  to  our  children, 
worth  studying.  Some  of  them  are  to  be  enjoyed  alone, 
some  in  common;  great  distinction  which  must,  above  all, 
govern  their  distribution.  Then  come  the  particular  char- 
acters of  each ;  we  would  not  have  Punchinello  make  his 
automatic  gestures  before  a  child  whom  we  want  to  cure  of 
the  same;  nor  would  we  like  to  hear  the  barking  of  a  papier- 
mache  dog  near  a  child  whose  voice  is  not  yet  settled  in  the 
human  notes ;  we  would  avoid,  as  much  as  possible,  toys  used 
individually  for  children  addicted  to  loneliness,  and  try  to 
give  a  social  character  to  those  which  are  generally  made  to 
amuse  a  single  child;  the  more  numerous  the  players,  the 
more  lively  and  social  is  the  game;  we  can  never  teach  too 
many  children,  nor  too  often,  with  toys.  They  may  be  taught 
in  school  many  things  utterly  useless  for  their  improvement; 
but  they  cannot  be  made  to  play  together,  with  or  without 
toys,  without  learning  and  increasing  their  moral  qualities : 


170  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

playing  is  a  moral  power,  amusing  the  lowest  idiot  is  another; 
our  children  must  enjoy  both. 

In  the  school,  at  meals,  in  the  fields,  on  the  play-ground,, 
all  points  of  contact  for  these  secluded  children,  how  many 
chances  has  the  teacher  to  oppose  them  in  relations  which 
shall  create  their  sense  of  moral  association,  their  sociability,, 
and  their  family-like  affinities.  But  it  is  easier  to  let  grow, 
out  of  unprepared  contacts,  rivalry,  quarrelling,  and  disaffec- 
tion, than  to  thoughtfully  prepare  the  associations  of  our 
charge  for  the  production  of  concert,  harmony,  and  affection. 
However,  circumstances  may  occur  in  which  the  best  pre- 
arranged contacts  become  painful  to  some;  those  who  cannot 
be  saved  these  asperities,  must  have  their  sore  feelings 
soothed;  and  all  of  them  may  be  taught  to  love  by  being 
loved.  Who  could  do  it  better  than  those  who  have  devoted 
themselves  to  their  improvement?  To  develop  their  sense 
of  affection,  as  were  developed  their  senses  of  sight,  of  hear- 
ing, and  others,  does  not  demand  new  instruments  or  new 
teachers,  but  the  extension  of  the  same  action  upon  their  feel- 
ings. To  make  the  child  feel  that  he  is  loved,  and  to  make 
him  eager  to  love  in  his  turn,  is  the  end  of  our  teaching 
as  it  has  been  its  beginning.  If  we  have  loved  our  pupils,, 
they  felt  it  and  communicated  the  same  feeling  to  each  other; 
if  they  have  been  loved,  they  are  loving  in  all  the  degrees  of 
human  power  conformable  with  their  limited  synergy. 

We  should  like  to  say  how  this  is  to  be  accomplished;  but 
who  can  tell?  Leuret,  being  asked  about  that  moral  influence,, 
said  that  he  could  not  tell ;  all  depended  on  inspiration  and 
circumstances ;  all  unforeseen  and  impossible  to  foretell.  We' 
characterized  it  as  an  action  of  the  stronger  on  the  weaker 
will  for  its  improvement;  but  it  is  an  action  incessantly  vary- 
ing, upon  terms  constantly  modified ;  phenomena  evading- 
anal3^sis,  serial  evolutions  escaping  graphic  drawing.  In  its- 
march  it  begins  with  the  most  profound  feelings  of  pity  and 
charity  for  the  unfortunate ;  it  continues  through  compulsory, 
impulsing,  or  inciting  commands ;  a  work  ever  changing  in 
form,  never  changing  in  object;  unremittingly  coaxing  the 
isolated  child  into  society;  it  is  throughout  a  work  of  devo- 
tion. In  this  work  the  teacher,  the  nurse,  the  physician, 
the  philosopher,  the  phj^siologist,  the  psychologist,  and  the 


Moral  Treatment.  171 

moralist  have  something  to  do.  But  their  doings  are  all  sub- 
ordinate to  those  of  the  most  profound  affection.  For  our 
pupils  science,  literature,  art,  education,  medicine,  philosophy^- 
each  may  do  something;  but  love  alone  can  truly  socialize 
them;  those  alone  who  love  them  are  their  true  rescuers. 
The  men  who  pretend  to  treat  idiocy  with  talent,  erudition, 
even  genius,  may  find  the  appreciation  of  their  Utopianism  in 
these  words  of  Paul :  "  Though  I  speak  with  the  tongue  of 
men  and  of  angels,  and  have  not  charity,  I  am  become  as 
sounding  brass,  or  a  tinkling  cymbal ;  and  though  I  have  the 
gift  of  prophecy,  and  understand  all  mysteries,  and  all  knowl- 
edge, and  though  I  have  all  faith,  so  that  I  could  remove 
mountains,  and  have  not  charity,  I  am  nothing."  Evidently 
the  apostle  knew  more  than  we  about  moral  treatment;  and 
we  close  our  feeble  remarks  by  meditating  upon  this  forcible 
text  on  the  subject. 


PART  IV 

INSTITUTION 

The  establishments  founded  for  idiots  have  been  called  by 
various  names — Schools,  Institutions,  Asylums,  etc.  The  term 
school  expresses  well  the  place  in  which  these  children  are 
educated,  and  that  of  institutions  leaves  more  room  for  the 
understanding  that  therein  they  are  boarded,  nursed,  and 
especially  treated  also.  Nevertheless,  it  does  not  seem  proper 
to  employ  one  of  these  two  terms  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
other  without  having  taken  the  advice,  duly  debated  and 
matured,  of  the  persons  most  engaged  in  the  work.  This 
seems  one  of  the  questions  relating  to  the  subject  which 
requires  the  earliest  solution. 

We  are  aware  that  the  appellation  of  asylum  has  been 
attached  to  several  of  the  most  important  schools.  But  this 
term  conveys  conclusively  the  idea  of  a  custodian,  life-long 
place  of  retreat,  whereas  the  institution  or  school  is  only 
temporarily  open  for  educational  and  physiological  treatment. 
In  it  idiots  and  their  congeners  are  expected  to  remain  during 
the  period  assigned  by  nature  for  progress  in  young  persons, 
unless  it  sooner  becomes  manifest  that  they  cannot  be 
improved  at  all  or  any  more,  in  which  case  their  parents 
should  take  them  out  to  make  room  for  new  pupils.  In  all 
respects  this  is  an  institution  similar  to  those  for  the  deaf 
mute  and  the  blind.  Besides,  the  term  asylum  is  wanted 
for  a  necessary  appendix  to  the  school,  in  which  idiots  and 
other  victims  of  incurable  affections  of  the  nervous  system 
shall  be  received  for  their  lifetime,  when,  after  having  fol- 
lowed, with  only  a  partial  success,  the  curriculum  of  the 
school,  they  are  found  destitute  of  means  or  of  kind  parents. 
The  asylum  would  be  the  place  where  they  would  be  cared 
and  provided  for,  in  the  same  spirit  of  charity  in  which  they 
were  taught,  if  it  be  connected  with  the  institution,  organized 
like  a  farming  family,  and  managed  by  retired  teachers  and 
attendants,  understanding  the  peculiarities  of  idiots  and  accus- 
tomed to  treat  them  like  their  own  children. 

The  report  of  Orfila  to  the  Administration  of  the  hospitals 
of  Paris  (October  12,  1842)  and  that  of  Serres,  Flourens,  and 


Institution.  173 

Pariset,  to  the  French  Institute  (December  11,  1843),  ^-^e  the 
twin  corner-stones  of  all  the  institutions  since  founded  for 
the  education  of  idiots. 

In  Switzerland,  Guggenbiihl,  and  in  Prussia,  Saegert,  soon 
worked  on  the  data  furnished  by  our  numerous  .  pamphlets, 
issued  from  1838.  On  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  Dr.  Frederick 
Backus,  of  Rochester,  worded  a  report  to  the  Senate  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  for  the  foundation  of  the  first  State  Insti- 
tution for  Idiots.  It  was  voted  by  that  body  in  the  winter 
of  1845-6,  but  subsequently  defeated  by  the  Assembly.  Our 
first  private  school  was  opened  by  Dr.  H.  B.  Wilbur,  at  Barre, 
Mass.,  in  July,  1848;  and  in  October  of  the  same  year,  Dr. 
Samuel  G.  Howe  opened  in  South  Boston  the  first  State  Insti- 
tution, due  to  his  persevering  action  on  the  Legislature  of 
Massachusetts.  The  State  of  New  York  had  the  plans  of  Dr. 
Backus  realized  in  1851.  Pennsylvania  owes  to  Mr.  J.  B. 
Richards  the  beginning  of  her  State  School  in  1852;  Ohio, 
Kentucky,  Connecticut,  Illinois,  following.  England  founded 
the  institution  of  Highgate  in  1847,  ^.nd  that  of  Earlswood 
in  1853;  Scotland  had  hers  later;  all  civilized  countries  have 
now  one  at  least ;  but  none  has  so  many  in  fact,  and  in  propor- 
tion to  its  population,  as  the  United  States. 

It  took  ten  years  to  found  the  method  of  training  idiots, 
and  it  required  fifteen  more  to  found  the  institutions  on  the 
most  solid  basis  of  the  budget  of  nations.  After  having 
exposed  the  method,  it  would  be  a  great  pleasure  to  describe 
and  compare  the  various  institutions,  but  the  means  of  doing 
it  are  not  within  our  reach;  and  after  reflection,  we  are  now 
inclined  to  think  that  this  deprivation  may  be  turned  to  good 
account,  by  permitting  us  to  say  with  more  independence 
what  the  typical  institution  must  be,  rather  than  what  each 
of  the  existing  ones  is. 

Supposing  the  seat  of  the  establishment  selected  according 
to  the  Hippocratic  rules  in  respect  to  air,  water,  elevation, 
and  genial  exposure,  we  advise  only  to  locate  it  in  the  mean 
and  most  equable  temperature  of  the  geographical  circum- 
scription in  which  its  future  inmates  have  been  born  and 
raised.  Any  great  change  in  this  respect  would  be  followed 
by  unpleasant  consequences;  though  we  are  inclined  to  think 
that  in  extreme  latitudes  a  slight  deviation  from  this  rule 


■174  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

would  be  rather  favorable,  if  it  carried  the  institutions  of  the 
North  a  little  to  the  South,  and  those  of  the  South  a  little 
to  the  North.  By  this  artifice,  the  climate  of  the  former  shall 
not  be  more  intensely,  but  longer  warm,  whilst  the  climate 
of  the  latter  shall  be  favorable  to  labor  and  exercise  for 
several  weeks. 

The  buildings  of  the  institution  must  have  a  special  char- 
acter, unlike  those  of  any  other  educational  establishment, 
to  correspond  with  certain  idiosyncracies  of  the  children  and 
with  numerous  exigencies  of  their  treatment.  Idiots  vitiate 
the  air  very  rapidly;  hence  the  necessity  of  supplying  them 
with  more  than  an  ordinary  share  of  it,  by  making  their  rooms 
very  high  and  large,  very  airy  and  easily  ventilated,  accessible 
equally  to  natural  and  artificial  heat.  Their  training,  unlike 
that  of  ordinary  children,  requiring  movement,  noise,  and  show, 
demands  a  special  distribution  of  the  building,  which,  in  this 
wise,  becomes  one  of  the  most  effective  means  of  physiological 
education :  upon  this  we  must  dwell  at  some  length. 

Part  of  the  Casement,  founded  on  high  ground  and  well 
drained,  may  be  used  for  bathing,  and  for  taking  the  meals  if 
the  windows  be  situated  so  that  the  children  can,  from  the 
tables,  enjoy  the  view  of  the  gardens,  purposely  ornamented. 
The  dining-rooms  must  be  numerous,  small  and  neat;  so  that 
the  children  may  be  grouped  in  each  as  at  a  family  table.  The 
upper  stories  are  devoted  to  sleeping  apartments,  infirmary, 
and  the  like.  The  dormitories  are  large,  but  in  no  instance 
should  contain  more  than  four  to  ten  children  with  one  attend- 
ant. These  rooms  are  kept  tastefully  in  order  by  the  same 
attendant,  assisted  by  her  children.  There  are  no  means  of 
communication  from  the  side,  story,  or  building  occupied  by 
the  girls,  to  that  of  the  boys. 

The  ground  floor  is  the  institution  par  excellence,  the  learn- 
ing, moving,  acting  of  the  children,  taking  place  on  this  floor, 
whose  distribution  must  be  entirely  subordinate  to  the  neces- 
sities of  the  treatment.  When  these  shall  be  better  under- 
stood, the  reception-rooms  and  other  accessories  will  be 
removed  from  this  floor  to  give  free  scope  to  the  general 
training.  The  partitioning  of  this  floor  must  be  so  contrived 
that  each  room  may  be  closed  by  itself,  or  all  of  them  wide 
.open,  connecting  as  a  single  circular  hall.    This,  as  a  whole. 


Institution.  175 

serves  the  various  purposes  of  the  general  training.  It  may 
be  seen  at  a  glance  that  to  be  made  serviceable  in  this  wise, 
the  space  occupied  by  the  school  apparatus  must  be  insig- 
nificant, compared  to  that  left  for  the  movements;  otherwise, 
each  room  having  its  decorations,  instruments,  and  character 
perfectly  determined,  according  to  its  destination;  and,  as 
these  apartments  substantiate  the  special  training,  at  least 
the  greater  part  of  it,  we  must  describe  the  most  important 
of  them. 

For  these  special  purposes,  the  rooms  must  communicate 
freely,  be  closed  easily,  intercept  the  noises  from  one  part  to 
another,  present  large  wall  surfaces  opposite  to  large  sur- 
faces of  light;  the  ceilings  must  be  lofty  but  even,  without 
any  relief  or  colors  unduly  attracting  the  attention.  The 
floors  must  all  be  on  the  same  level,  for  carriages  to  transport 
the  most  immovable  pupils,  and  things  generally;  otherwise 
the  floor  of  nearly  each  room  be  marked  in  a  certain  manner, 
for  the  different  exercises  to  be  followed  in  them,  as  we  shall 
see. 

Though  it  matters  little  which  part  of  the  institutions  we 
describe  first,  we  may  as  well  begin  with  the  delineation  of 
one  of  the  numerous  recesses  where  an  inattentive  and  ungov- 
ernable child  is  taken  apart,  now  and  then,  to  fix  his  atten- 
tion and  reduce  his  disordered  movements  to  firm  immobility. 
This  is  a  mere  nook,  uniformly  colored  like  a  studio;  lighted 
by  a  single  window  with  no  landscape,  no  accessory  orna- 
ment, no  furniture  save  two  firm  blocks,  shaped  like  the  sole 
of  the  feet,  and  destined  to  support,  like  pedestals,  the  child 
at  a  height  from  which  he  cannot  escape,  and  whence  he  can, 
must,  and  finally  will  take  notice  of  the  presence  of  his  teacher, 
or  of  a  thing  offered  to  his  sight,  in  the  absence  of  anything 
else  to  be  seen. 

Near  at  hand  must  be  the  large-sized  room,  in  which 
involuntary  exercises  of  the  feet  are  taught;  the  self-acting 
swing,  opposed  to  a  spring-board,  from  which  the  feet  bor- 
row strength  and  elasticity ;  the  ladder  lying  on  the  floor  forc- 
ing the  child,  who  must  walk  between  its  rounds,  to  raise  his 
feet;  the  treadmill  whose  floor  moves,  and  makes  the  child 
walk  in  situ;  the  blocks  rising  from  the  floor  at  regular  walk- 
ing distances;  and  parallel  to  them,  the  painted  footprints  on 


176  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

the  floor;  the  former  to  make  the  regular  walk  compulsive,  the 
latter  to  make  it  obligatory.  Here,  dumb-bells  are  only  used  as 
means  of  equilibrium,  to  give  regularity  and  firmness  to  the 
walk.  That  room  has  an  issue  upon  stairs,  expressly  built 
with  series  of  various  sized  steps,  to  teach  the  going  up  and 
down :  dumb-bells  are  carried  there  too. 

The  room  in  which  are  performed  the  exercises  of  personal 
imitation,  must  be  exempt  from  noise,  ornament,  or  attraction 
of  any  sort.  Its  floor  must  be  marked  here  and  there  with 
straight  and  curved  lines,  and  with  series  of  footprints  upon 
which  each  child  is  expected  to  stand,  or  fall  back  to  in  due 
time;  these  footprints  affecting  a  straight  or  slightly  concave 
line,  or  several  such,  according  to  the  wants  of  the  teaching; 
for,  to  imitate  well,  all  the  children  must  see  equally  the  mo- 
tions of  the  teacher.  In  some  places  are  holes  in  the  floor, 
used  to  secure  blocks  upon  which  unsteady  children  are 
forced  into  steadiness  during  the  exercise,  being  unwilling  to 
fall. 

The  development  of  the  human  voice  being  favored  by  the 
voice  of  instruments,  there  is  a  piano  in  the  room  devoted  to 
purely  vocal  exercises.  There,  one  child  at  a  time,  or  many 
together,  are  trained  to  emit  tones,  short  or  long,  high  or 
low,  single  or  by  pairs,  or  in  series.  If  this  room  be  orna- 
mented, its  pictures  must  represent  musical  instruments, 
bond  fide  singers  and  even  comical  concerts.  The  articulation- 
room  is  more  secluded,  offering  no  distraction,  not  even 
through  the  unique  window,  which  is  rather  high,  and  throws 
its  bright  light,  not  horizontally,  but  from  above  downwards, 
in  order  well  to  show  the  articulating  movements. 

Imitation  relating  to  objects,  or  impersonal,  requires  a  vast 
room.  Closets  alternating  with  architectural  engravings  and 
images  of  things  to  be  imitated ;  very  few  seats,  large  tables, 
the  middle  of  the  room  remaining  unencumbered.  In  the 
closets  are  the  pieces,  carefully  assorted,  necessary  for  the 
representation  of  certain  patterns  hanging  on  the  walls,  or 
near  at  hand.  On  some  tables  are  geometrical  blocks,  whose 
forms  stand  next  for  comparison  and  adaptation.  Other 
blocks  of  various  sizes,  most  of  them  shaped  like  bricks,  are 
piled  up  in  out-of-the-way  places,  ready  to  enter  into  whatever 
combinations,  whether  of  a  few  geometrically  assembled  on  a 


Institution.  177 

table,  or  of  a  great  many  rising  from  the  floor  in  towers,  or 
extending  in  walls,  houses,  and  circumvallations. 

The  education  of  the  touch  demands  separate  accommoda- 
tions. The  room  in  which  it  is  done  must  be  easily  deprived 
of  light,  well  supplied  with  closets  containing  a  selection  of 
substances,  productions  of  art  or  of  nature,  whose  character- 
istic properties  fall  under  the  control  of  the  tact.  When  there 
is  a  want  of  room,  the  exercise  of  the  taste  and  smell  may  be 
practiced  in  the  same  place,  though  they  do  not  exact  so  much 
attention  as  those  of  the  touch  and  may  be  favored  by  the  sight 
of  the  pictures  representing  repasts,  feasts,  convivialities, 
fruits,  flowers,  and  such-like;  external  elements  of  incitation 
of  taste  and  smell,  at  best  superfluous  in  tactile  gymnastics. 

Though  auditory  exercises  are  not  all  confined  to  a  single 
room,  we  may  describe  only  the  principal  one  devoted  to  it. 
In  it  the  child  is  spoken  to,  close  by,  and  at  various  distances ; 
directly  from  the  mouth  to  ear,  or  through  the  medium  of 
hollow  tubes,  speaking-trumpets,  etc. ;  or  he  is  submitted  to 
the  direct  agency  of  watches,  bells,  pianos :  that  room  must 
be  supplied  for  such  emergencies.  But  it  would  be  a  poor 
teaching  of  audition  to  limit  the  sounds  to  one  room ;  those 
first  heard,  because  they  are  actually  produced  near  the  organ, 
must  soon  be  reproduced  farther  and  farther  from  it,  till 
instead  of  directly  impinging  upon  the  organ,  they  are  to  be 
gathered  in  the  concha  by  an  effort  of  the  child's  will.  There- 
fore the  pianos,  violins,  etc.,  playing  in  this  room  must,  for 
some  special  teachings,  have  their  tones  continued  by  some 
similar  instruments  placed  in  the  building,  at  graduated  dis- 
tances. Besides,  the  audition-room  is  the  place  for  the  ordi- 
nary training  of  that  sense,  by  making  the  children  appreciate, 
as  in  sports,  the  noises  produced  by  the  fall  or  the  contact  of 
various  bodies,  their  own  voices  reciprocally,  etc.,  without  the 
assistance  of  other  senses. 

The  gymnastics  of  the  sight  require  more  space,  and  can- 
not even  very  well  be  confined  to  rooms ;  but  part  of  them 
demand  the  following  accommodations.  A  place  easily 
rendered  dark  and  easily  lighted  by  the  removal  of  one  or 
several  blinds,  whose  displacement  at  once  gives  entrance  to 
a  large  amount  of  light.  To  these  windows  may  be  adapted 
kaleidoscopic  combinations,  stereoscopic  views,  simple  colors, 
12 


178  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

forms,  or  letters,  or  striking  images  to  be  shown  or  concealed 
in  a  moment;  the  same  room,  lighted  at  will  from  above, 
to  exhibit  objects  through  long  tubes  and  appliances,  such  as 
opera-glasses,  microscopes,  etc.  And  a  gallery  is  to  be  fitted 
up  near  by,  in  which  the  bow  and  air-gun  may  be  used,  or 
which  may  serve  as  a  croquet-ground  or  a  bowling  alley. 
Once  the  look  secured,  the  child  is  transferred  to  the  room 
in  which  he  shall  systematically  learn  colors,  forms,  dimen- 
sions, and  the  combination  of  parts  to  form  a  whole.  Here 
ornaments  and  decorations  are  not  amiss;  the  walls  are 
covered  with  rich  pictures,  to  which  reference  may  be  had 
when  studying  colors  on  cards,  or  with  samples  of  cotton, 
woollen,  or  silken  fabrics.  Here  too  we  see  for  the  first,  and 
not  the  last  time,  the  narrow  semicircular  table,  inside  of 
which  the  teacher  stands,  while  around  it  are  the  children. 
There  are  few  chairs,  and  fewer  unobstructive  closets,  running 
low  along  the  walls,  to  keep  the  objects  necessary  for  the 
aforesaid  teaching,  leaving  plenty  of  room  in  the  centre  for 
moving  and  comparing  objects. 

Drawing,  writing,  reading,  are  taught  in  one  room.  Oppo- 
site the  windows,  the  wall  is  entirely  covered,  at  a  proper 
height,  with  slate  or  composition  answering  the  same  purpose. 
On  the  sides  are  cards  representing  letters  and  words;  the 
simple  representation  of  the  familiar  objects  named  on  the 
cards,  and  forming,  with  the  words  written  on  the  black- 
board, the  staple  reading  matter  of  beginners.  In  well-lighted 
embrasures  stand  also  some  of  the  ingenious  machines  for 
composing  words.  There  are  no  more  seats  and  tables  than 
absolutely  necessary  for  a  temporary  rest  of  part  of  the  class. 
But  in  front  of  the  black-board,  there  are  on  the  floor  painted 
foot-marks  to  keep  the  children  at  a  proper  distance  from 
the  object  of  instruction;  and  when  these  marks  are  not 
stringent  enough,  isolating  blocks  are  put  up,  and  the  delin- 
quent is  expected  to  behave  from  the  top  of  them.  But 
immobility  and  attention  are  generally  secure  with  less  ap- 
paratus ;  as  when  children  have  their  names  conspicuously 
written  on  the  board,  or  other  conventional  punishment  felt 
more  keenly  than  strangers  might  suppose. 

A  room,  very  similar  to  this,  is  destined  for  calculation. 
Besides  the  slates  and  series  of  balls  of  various  colors  set  on 


Institution.  179 

wire,  there  are  collections  of  objects  by  numbers  of  the  same 
kind,  easy  to  aggregate  or  separate  in  groups  at  a  bidding. 
To  that  effect  more  tables  are  provided  here  than  anywhere 
else ;  all  horizontal  and  circumscribed  by  a  slightly  salient 
edge,  so  that  no  object  could  fall.  On  these  tables  the  four 
rules  and  fractions  are  taught  with  grapes,  pears,  marbles, 
nuts,  etc.,  as  thoroughly  as  by  the  most  disheartening  abstrac- 
tion; they  are  transferred  to  the  slate  only  when  well  under- 
stood. Here,  at  other  times,  assembling  objects  by  pairs, 
series,  similarity,  or  contrast,  is  rendered  easy  by  the  presence 
of  numerous  collections.  Exercises  of  nomination  take  place 
also,  in  which  the  sight  of  objects  provokes  to  language,  and 
language  in  its  turn  spurs  the  lazy  sight  to  recognition  of 
objects:  tedious  exercise  when  it  begins  slowly,  highly  inter- 
esting when  prosecuted  with  fire  by  a  smart  teacher  followed 
by  six  or  ten  animated  pupils. 

The  number  of  apparatus  occupied  by  the  preceding  and 
following  trainings  shall  depend  upon  the  size  of  the  build- 
ing. Collections  made  by  the  children  themselves,  and  those 
of  minerals  and  animals,  or  others  that  accrue  naturally  to 
an  institution  of  this  class,  are  expected  to  occupy  large 
places ;  so  that  references  and  illustrations  from  them  may  be 
constantly  at  hand.  The  necessary  distance  of  the  institu- 
tion from  cities,  whose  streets  and  shows  exhibit  at  all  hours 
the  true  magazine  of  learning  for  the  masses  of  the  people, 
and  the  difficulty  of  sending  idiots  about  to  pick  up  by  sight 
that  which  no  book  nor  teacher  can  convey  to  their  mind, 
renders  more  imperious  the  duty  of  making  these  collections 
as  numerous  as  possible. 

The  objects  gathered  with  the  express  view  of  giving  object- 
lessons,  do  not  need  to  be  always  in  sight;  but  need  careful 
arrangement  and  storage ;  where  they  may  be  found,  and  in 
such  order  that  the  qualities  by  which  they  resemble  one 
another,  or  differ,  be  apposed  in  their  resting-places;  so  that 
it  may  suffice  to  present  them  as  they  stand  there,  to  exhibit 
to  the  children  the  vividness  of  their  properties.  The  things 
collected  to  teach  pricing  are  quite  different.  At  first  they  are 
very  few,  and  of  the  kind  that  the  child  cannot  afford  to 
live  without.  The  appreciation  of  their  value  carries  with 
it  the  use  of  numbers,  scales,  yards,  money,  and  other  ele- 


i8o  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

ments  of  valuation:  a  knowledge  of  intrinsic  value  requires 
the  gathering  of  more  objects,  a  better  study  of  their  proper- 
ties, and  more  sensorial  discrimination.  The  collections  made 
for  that  study  must  resemble  in  their  arrangement,  more  than 
any  other,  the  shelves  of  a  store  filled  with  samples  of  several 
qualities  of  everything  that  the  child  may  be  expected  to 
need  himself,  and  likely  to  call  for  afterwards.  This  room 
naturally  becomes  the  place  where  qualification  exercises  may 
be  carried  to  the   utmost   limit. 

When  room  is  scarce,  we  may  put  together,  but  never  con- 
fusedly: I  St.  On  the  higher  shelves,  the  patterns  of  simple 
things  that  the  children  may  occasionally  have  to  execute  in 
wax,  clay,  wood,  etc.  2d.  Somewhat  lower,  and  easily  seen 
but  not  touched,  the  standard  toys,  expansive,  delicate,  con- 
veying more  ideas  by  the  sight  than  they  would  pleasure  by 
handhng.  3d.  Still  lower,  within  reach  of  prehension,  the 
playthings  proper,  bright,  cheap,  and  easily  broken  con- 
trivances, which  are  so  necessary  to  the  happiness  of  children, 
and  from  which  they  learn  so  much,  even  when  destroying 
them. 

A  room  sufficiently  large  to  contain  all  the  children  and 
visitors,  is  used  daily  for  the  common  singing,  and  occa- 
sionally for  musical  and  other  festivities.  The  care  of  orna- 
menting that  room  with  fresh  wreaths  and  new  patterns  of 
decoration  falls  to  the  more  intelligent  children  of  both  sexes, 
under  the  guidance  of  a  person  designated  for  that  duty  by 
refined  tastes  and  habits.  This  music  or  meeting-hall  is  the 
one  in  which  the  children  dance  or  play  together  till  the 
sleeping  hour  comes  sooner  or  later,  according  to  age  and 
grade  of  intelligence ;  otherwise  the  girls  and  boys  enjoy 
themselves  in  separate  chambers  and  playgrounds. 

The  rooms  in  which  dumb-bells,  balancing-poles,  Indian 
clubs,  and  the  like  are  used,  have  their  floors  divided  in  one 
direction  by  straight  lines,  in  another  by  rows  of  footprints, 
to  mark  the  distance  at  which  the  children  must  stand  not 
to  hurt  each  other,  and  to  help  their  classification.  This  room 
also  serves  for  various  imitation  exercises,  and  opens,  for  more 
than  one  convenience,  into  the  gymnasium. 

This  last  contains  the  gymnastic  apparatus  proper;  those 
essential  to  restore  the  muscular  function,  not  to  exaggerate 


Institution.  i8l 

it.  It  is,  besides,  the  hall  in  which  take  place  all  the  exercises 
and  sports  when  the  weather  forbids  their  being  carried  on 
in  the  open  air.  For  this  vicarious  purpose,  the  gymnasium 
must  contain  the  various  playthings  in  the  same  order  as  in 
an  armory  the  arms  are  set  up  in  racks;  not  for  an  idle  dis- 
play, but  as  standing  provocations  to  desire  and  use  them. 
Thus,  with  taste  and  show,  are  exhibited  hoops,  skates,  sleds, 
balloons,  ten-pins,  kites,  wooden  and  other  balls,  all  arranged 
against  the  walls  in  attractive  symmetry.  Bows  and  arrows, 
wooden  swords  and  guns,  occupy  in  rows  accessible  positions, 
ready  to  be  seized  by  the  children,  who  need  to  learn  the  use 
of  war  implements ;  the  determined  attitude,  the  quick  step, 
the  firm  grasp,  the  sure  aim,  etc.  Even  the  fighting  value 
of  this  military  training  in  so  feeble  hands  can  be  no  longer 
despised,  since  two  of  the  pupils  of  the  New  York  State 
Institution  went  into  the  army  of  the  Union,  understanding 
very  well  what  they  fought  for;  one  died  of  the  fatigues  of 
the  campaigns ;  the  other,  wounded  in  two  battles  under  Sheri- 
dan, died  at  Winchester.  These  things  give  to  the  gymnasium 
a  character  unlike  to  that  of  any  other  part  of  the  building. 
Another  peculiarity  of  its  disposition  is  the  gathering  in  it, 
and  in  the  smallest  compass,  of  all  the  difficulties  which  a 
child  may  accidentally  find  in  his  way,  by  establishing  along 
its  walls  a  system  of  up  and  down  declivities  and  stairs,  of 
artificial  ditches,  and  of  abrupt  ascending  and  descending 
planes,  over  all  of  which  the  children,  excited  by  music,  by 
the  voice  and  the  animation  of  all  the  force  of  teachers  and 
attendants,  are  unavoidably  carried  into  a  vortex  of  movement 
against  the  sluggishness  of  their  own  nature.  When  the 
weather  is  dull,  chilly,  thawing,  the  doors  closed,  the  habitable 
world  of  the  family  limited  by  the  gray  windows,  we  mobolize 
them  by  a  quick  tap  on  the  drum,  a  friendly  one  on  the 
shoulder,  a  hand  to  support  the  trembling,  a  word  to  encour- 
age the  timid ;  on  they  go,  each  one  and  all  pushed,  pushing, 
falling,  raised  up,  laughing  crying,  animated  in  their  features 
and  movements,  as  if  they  had  never  been  idiots ;  till  masters 
and  pupils,  eager  for  rest,  are  stopped,  after  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes  of  this  wild  chase,  by  the  dinner-bell. 

But  happy  the  time  when  the  gymnasium  and  most  of  the 
rooms   can   be   vacated,   and   training  and   teaching   may  be 


i82  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

transferred  to  the  open  air.  There  another  and  more  natural 
school  is  prepared  for  them,  and  by  their  own  efforts. 
Between  some  lofty  trees,  they  have  built  and  dug  up  with 
spades  and  wheelbarrows,  walls,  ditches,  and  race-courses 
strewn  with  obstructions,  over  which  they  are  made  to  run, 
and  from  which  they  must  extricate  themselves.  They  have 
also  raised  stone  or  turf  banks  to  sit  upon  under  the  shade 
in  warm  weather,  and  listen  to  the  wonderful  stories  flowing 
from  their  teacher's  lips.  Thence  they  are  sent  in  quest  of 
specified  natural  objects,  such  as  leaves,  insects,  flowers,  etc., 
and  they  return,  each  one  with  his  booty,  a  more  intelligent 
countenance,  and  a  happy  face. 

But  all  is  not  enjoyment  in  their  lives.  Next  to  the  pleasant 
shades,  the  gardens  and  fields  are  open  for  more  sober  sports, 
which  may  be  rendered  as  interesting  as  their  destination  is 
useful.  The  very  youngest  of  the  children  are  sent  in  squads 
to  dig  little  holes  a  few  inches  apart;  to  deposit  a  precise 
number  of  seeds  in  each  hole,  without  missing  any ;  to  cover 
the  seeds  with  light  dirt,  etc.  Later,  being  made  familiar 
with  the  shape  of  a  few  leaves,  they  are  sent  in  crowds  to 
weed  out  from  a  large  patch  every  green  thing  showing  itself 
under  a  form  different  from  the  one  expected  to  grow  on  the 
spot.  The  hunting  for  insects  destructive  of  vegetation,  is 
another  occupation  rendered  attractive  by  making  the  chil- 
dren conscious  of  the  good  they  do,  and  by  creating  a  gentle 
emulation  among  them  for  the  number,  the  size,  the  strange 
appearance  of  their  captures,  etc.  Soon  these  children  become 
able  to  pave  the  garden  walks  with  pebbles,  or  make  gutters 
at  their  sides ;  they  learn  in  short  sessions  the  use  of  the 
spade,  hoe,  rake,  watering-pot  and  others,  according  to  their 
strength.  Their  implements  should  be  light  and  efficient; 
this  is  capital ;  how  many  beginners  have  conceived  for  their 
work  the  abhorrence  justly  deserved  by  their  clumsy  tools. 
We  will  not  follow  our  children,  grown  stronger,  in  the  farm 
to  see  them  helped  by  animals  which  they  treat  kindly,  and 
above  all,  aided  by  nature.  This  is  essentially  the  work  for 
them.  There,  idiots  are  not  exposed  to  crushing  competition, 
but  receive  the  concourse  of  the  great  Helper.  Once,  at  the 
entrance  of  a  poor  man's  field,  was  written,  "  The  sun  shines 
for  all  men."     We  read  it  many  a  time  in  our  tender  years 


Institution.  183 

without  understanding  it;  but  even  on  another  continent, 
the  sentence  followed  us,  with  its  sun  daubed  in  the  middle, 
and  we  think  that  we  understand  it  now;  since  we  wish,  we 
pray,  that  idiots  may  be  kept  working  only  where  the  sun 
can  mature  what  they  prepare :  the  sun  of  God  shining  for  all. 

Now  that  we  have  described  the  most  important  parts  of 
the  material  institution,  as  the  locality,  or  frame  with  many 
compartments  in  which  the  various  acts  of  treating  idiots  take 
place;  each  room,  nook,  corner,  hall  and  ground  having  been 
shown  with  its  object,  it  is  easy  to  perceive  the  unity  of  the 
intellectual  institution,  hot-bed  of  physiological  education  for 
infirm  children. 

The  intellectual  institution  is  the  living  counterpart  of  the 
method.  We  discover  in  it  the  same  flexibility  of  adaptation 
to  all  the  physiological  deficiencies,  to  bodily  and  mental 
weakness.  In  it  the  rotatory  system  is  substantiated ;  we 
see  the  child  moving  from  one  mode  of  training  to  another, 
as  in  the  method  we  could  realize,  his  feeble  mind  led  from 
one  perception  to  another,  and  elevated,  not  by  direct  ascen- 
sion, but  by  side-liftings  and  propagation  of  forces,  as  levers 
act  on  apparently  immovable  masses.  The  counter-drawing 
of  the  method  is  personated :  firstly,  by  the  children ;  secondly, 
by  agents  whose  action  upon  them  is  as  systematic  as  the 
method  itself,  though  rendered  fluent  and  easy  by  the  train 
of  affectionate  impulse. 

We  shall  first  consider  the  children.  Those  forming  the 
body  of  an  institution  must  be  idiots,  of  course ;  but  among 
them  are  others  rendered  incapable  of  attending  ordinary 
schools  by  various  infirmities,  and  for  wdiom  no  educational 
provision  has  yet  been  made.  It  would  be  useless  to  rehearse 
here  the  conditions  of  fitness  of  idiots  and  their  congeners 
to  the  institution ;  we  suppose  that  most  of  the  applicants  may 
be  benefited  in  it,  but  we  are  obliged  to  acknowledge  that 
their  indiscriminate  admission  would  impair  the  efficacy  of 
the  establishment,  and  we  remark  at  once,  that  this  would 
occur  in  two  ways :  one  by  the  preponderance  of  certain  sorts 
of  infirmities  among  the  admitted  children,  the  other  by  their 
intrinsic  number  without  reference  to  classification.  In  regard 
to  variety  in  the  infirmities  of  those  received,  the  pupils  may 
be  selected  so  that  the  institution  has  life  in  it,  or  falls  upon 


1 84  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

itself  like  a  dead  weight.  Therefore,  in  their  admission,  great 
discretion  is  to  be  exercised  as  to  the  number  and  the  gravity 
of  each  kind  of  cases.  If  the  bulk  of  them  were  affected  with 
automatic  movements,  or  incapable  of  auditing,  or  of  com- 
prehending orders,  or  affected  with  impeded  locomotion,  or 
prehension,  etc.,  the  predominance  of  one  of  these  infirmities 
would  act  very  depressingly,  not  only  upon  the  individual 
treatment,  but  fatally  on  the  onward  and  even  movement  of 
the  general  training  of  the  mass  of  the  pupils. 

To  constitute  the  broad  and  lower  stratum  of  a  normal 
institution  for  idiots,  they  and  their  congeners  must  accord- 
ingly be  chosen  in  view  of  forming  what  we  may  be  permitted 
to  call  an  efficient  body  of  incapacities.  In  this  body  the  life, 
though  defective,  circulates  and  may  improve,  because  the 
children  have  been  apposed  with  regard  to  the  representation 
in  the  school  of  the  many  infirmities  characteristic  of  typical 
idiocy.  In  this  wise  the  establishment  is  made  to  represent 
in  the  concrete,  abstract  idiocy,  with  its  normal  amount  of 
incapacities  and  of  quasiaptitudes  equipoised,  so  that  it  may 
be  compared  to  a  merchantman  whose  cargo  is  distributed 
for  swift  sailing.  In  general  terms,  if  we  want  the  institution 
to  progress,  the  inmates  must  be  chosen  so  that  no  special 
condition  in  them  predominates  over  the  others;  but  we  must 
particularly  warn  any  new  establishment  against  three  of 
them:  ist.  Epilepsy,  which  too  often  aggravates  idiocy,  ranks 
foremost.  It  is  nearly  impossible  to  forward  the  general 
treatment  with  the  impediment  offered  by  the  sight  and  care 
of  convulsions,  impressing  badly  the  other  children,  and  con- 
suming the  available  force  of  the  personnel.  2d.  Extensive 
paralysis  and  contractures,  when  largely  represented,  raise 
the  same  objection,  3d.  The  admission  of  many  very  young 
children  acts  in  the  same  manner  by  the  incessant  care  they 
claim,  part  of  which  hinders  the  movement  of  a  public  insti- 
tution. The  nursing  required  by  so  young  pupils  is  not  only 
the  caring  and  watching  day  and  night,  so  necessary  to  weak 
children,  but  it  is  the  ceaseless  fondling  against  a  warm  breast, 
from  which  the  child  seems  to  derive  part  of  his  vitality ;  and 
as  idiots  are,  besides  their  infirmity,  generally  by  several  years 
behind  other  children,  they  need  several  years  more  of  tender 
nursing  and   motherly  care.     It  is   better,  therefore,   as   we 


Institution.  185 

said,  to  teach  their  mothers  how  to  apply  at  home  the  physio- 
logical process  of  development,  sooner  than  to  admit  them  to 
pine  away  in  the  midst  of  apparently  favorable  circumstances. 

In  private  and  select  practice,  provisions  may  be  made  to 
avoid  these  inconveniences;  but  in  public  institutions,  the 
general  end  to  be  attained  must  not  be  lost  sight  of  for  the 
sake  of  improving  more  especially  a  class  of  patients,  nor 
even  a  set  of  functions  in  all  of  them.  The  school  is  to  be 
filled  by  a  choice  of  pupils  whose  collection  shall  form  a  unit 
easy  to  move,  easy  to  command,  easy  to  progress  with  the 
expense  of  a  given  force  of  intelligent  persons.  And  by  such 
judicious  choice  of  pupils  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  assistants 
on  the  other,  the  moral  being  called  institution  for  idiots  is 
expected  to  be  able  to  train  her  children  up  to  the  highest 
point  of  their  possible  attainment,  instead  of  being  herself 
dragged,  by  their  dead  weight,  to  their  level. 

Besides,  to  form  a  school,  the  children  must  be  numerous 
enough  to  be  worked  successively  into  the  various  modes  of 
general,  group,  and  individual  trainings.  This  minimum  num- 
ber must  be  attained  to  form  anything  like  a  school — even  a 
private  one.  We  would  not  say  that,  to  succeed,  there  must 
be  at  least  so  many  pupils  in  training  at  once ;  for  it  would 
be  like  mistrusting  the  miracles  of  individual  ingenuity,  or 
denying  the  power  of  devotion,  money,  scientific  investigation, 
etc. ;  it  would  be  like  producing  false  evidence  against  our- 
selves, since  we  treated  idiots  by  ones,  by  tens,  before  we 
gathered  them  for  the  first  time  by  the  hundred  in  Bicetre. 
But  we  say  that  whatever  may  be  gained  by  the  close  contact 
of  one  teacher  with  one  or  a  few  pupils  in  individual  lessons, 
is  far  from  compensating  the  loss  experienced  by  the  neces- 
sary absence  of  group  or  general  training  among  isolated 
children.  No  doubt  they  may,  in  this  wise,  learn  more  through 
the  teacher,  but  they  will  acquire  less  intuition  by  themselves ; 
they  will  obey  more  integrally,  but  they  will  not  act  so  soon, 
nor  so  well  by  the  impulse  of  their  free  will ;  they  may  under- 
stand more,  but  will  certainly  do  less.  In  fact,  the  two  modes 
of  teaching  act  so  differently,  and  are  so  completive,  not 
suppletive  of  each  other,  that  the  best  school  is  the  one  which 
includes  both;  and  consequently,  a  public  institution  must  be 
numerous  enough  to  permit  a  rational  classification,  without 


i86  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

reducing  the  groups  to  mere  individualities.  For  this  vital 
reason,  it  would  be  advisable  to  unite  the  means  and  efforts 
of  two  states  to  create  a  healthy  institution,  sooner  than  to 
foster  several  in  deplete  conditions,  unfavorable  to  the  circu- 
lation of  activity  among  children.  But  this  rule  must  only 
be  affirmed  in  its  most  general  terms,  and  for  public 
establishments. 

If  we  are  reluctant  to  fix  a  certain  minimum  of  pupils  for 
an  institution,  we  must  be  more  cautious  yet  in  regard  to 
fixing  their  maximum  number.  Evidently  the  more  numerous 
they  are,  the  more  easy  would  be  the  formation  of  groups, 
if  this  operation  needed  not  to  be  strictly  founded  upon  a 
thorough  study  of  the  individual  cases.  Here  lies  the  diffi- 
culty which  may  be  stated  in  a  very  few  words:  how  many 
idiots  may  be  studied,  taught,  and  treated  with  unity  and 
comprehensibility,  under  a  single  head,  by  a  staff  of  officers? 
We  do  not  say  fed,  warmed,  and  kept  at  the  lowest  ebb  of 
vitality ;  we  mean  educated  and  developed  to  the  fullest  extent 
of  their  capacity.  Unfortunately,  experience  in  this  matter 
is  too  young  to  be  invoked  as  a  guide.  Good  common  sense 
may  help  to  form  a  judgment ;  but  the  question  will  evidently 
remain  open  till  practice  shall  have  verified  or  corrected  our 
conclusions.  If  we  consider,  as  we  think  we  must,  an  insti- 
tution as  a  unit  in  itself  representing  the  pathological  unit 
idiocy,  we  see  that  the  children  forming  its  body  may  be 
grouped  for  the  sake  of  training  as  are  the  symptoms  of 
idiocy,  in  various  categories;  though  the  same  child  will,  of 
course,  enter  at  successive  hours  of  the  day  into  several  of 
these  groups. 

Muscular  exercise  will  at  least  form  five  groups;  those 
of  the  senses  and  speech,  eight  or  ten;  drawing,  writing,  and 
reading,  half  as  many;  object-naming,  specifying,  qualifying, 
pricing,  counting,  about  six;  the  relation  of  actions  to  per- 
sons and  things,  expressed  by  verbs,  prepositions,  etc.,  the 
same  number;  all  told,  without  reference  to  outside  labors, 
there  would  be  above  twenty  groups  of  pupils  to  be  formed, 
to  fulfil  by  their  collection  all  the  physiological  indications 
included  in  the  treatment  of  idiocy.  Granting,  on  the  average, 
that  a  group  formed  for  exercises  of  attention  must  not  be 
composed  of  more  than  five  children,  and  that  one  formed 


Institution.  187 

for  activity  must  be  under  twenty,  this  gives  us  an  average 
of  ten  children  to  each  group.  If  we  suppose  the  total  number 
of  pupils  to  be  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred,  and  a 
quarter  of  them  always  engaged  in  outside  work,  we  have 
a  maximum  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  pupils,  forming  fifteen 
groups  of  ten,  under  five  teachers  and  three  gymnasts,  two 
groups  to  each,  during  six  hours  in  the  day.  This  gives  forty- 
eight  hours  of  individual  or  group  training  to  fifteen  groups, 
or  three  hours  to  each  group.  These  three  hours  are  given 
entirely  to  individual  and  group  teaching,  during  which  the 
child  is  expected  to  use  his  muscles,  senses,  and  brain,  alone 
or  with  the  encouragement  of  a  few  mates  doing  the  same 
thing.  In  the  three  other  hours  he  is  directly  taught  in  the 
general  training,  or  indirectly  by  being  made  a  witness  to 
the  close  activity  and  expressions  of  intelligence  elicited  from 
others,  whose  direct  teaching  reacts  upon  him  in  proportion 
to  his  nearness. 

The  efficiency  of  this  indirect  training  is  enhanced  by  the 
capacity  of  the  teacher  for  understanding  what  nearness  means 
for  every  pupil,  and  in  presence  of  every  kind  of  exercise- 
These,  viz.,  the  best  conditions  of  perception,  are  extremely 
variable.  A  very  small  child  will  scarcely  pay  attention  ta 
exercises  of  personal  imitation  performed  by  a  taller  one,  above 
his  head,  but  will  not  lose  one  of  those  performed  at  a  suit- 
able distance  and  on  the  level  with  his  horizontal  line  of  vision. 
Then,  to  give  him  a  passive  lesson  of  this  kind,  let  us  place 
him  at  the  proper  height  and  distance  of  a  group  of  imitating 
children,  and  he  shall  learn  often,  from  that  standpoint,  what 
our  direct  and  protracted  patience  could  not  teach  him.  But 
this  point  of  perception  cannot  be  determined  in  the  abstract; 
it  varies  according  to  the  thing  to  be  taught,  to  the  sense  to 
be  provoked,  to  the  size,  capacity,  infirmity  of  the  child,  and 
often  to  other  anomalies  to  be  ascertained  by  experience. 
Altogether,  three  hours  given  to  direct,  three  hours  given  to- 
indirect  teaching,  make  twelve  classes  of  half  an  hour  each,^ 
through  which  each  idiot  passes,  without  reckoning  his  general 
training,  active  amusements,  walks,  etc. :  the  institution  is 
made  quite  a  busy  place  for  children  but  lately  idle. 

The  general  training  and  pleasure  exercises  being  taken 
outside  of  the  class-rooms  at  different  hours,  during  which  the 


1 88  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

attendants  are  on  duty,  one  attendant  being  able  to  take  care 
of  from  five  to  twenty  children,  according  to  how  helpless 
these  latter  are;  they  need  not  be  more  numerous  than  the 
teachers,  if  their  charges  are  not  too  much  crippled,  or  other- 
wise immovable.  This  number  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  pupils 
in  actual  training  seems  easy  to  divide  into  natural  groups 
to  mass  and  to  move.  It  is  quite  high,  no  doubt,  if  a  man  has 
to  take  all  at  once  possession  of  it,  individually  and  col- 
lectively, and  to  forward  the  treatment  of  each  one  and  all, 
in  an  ascending  march.  But  as  it  is  not  often  that  anybody 
is  called,  at  short  notice  and  without  preparation,  to  such  a 
duty,  it  may  be  asserted  that  with  a  previous  knowledge  of 
the  old  cases,  a  man  of  ordinary  ability,  well  supported  by 
his  assistants,  as  we  shall  see  he  must  be,  will  always  be  able 
to  keep  up  the  study  of  the  new  cases  with  the  direction  of 
the  mass.  Therefore,  without  fixing  any  number  to  the  bulk 
of  pupils  forming  the  body  of  an  institution,  we  must  see 
that  that  body  be  not  too  heavy  for  the  head,  nor  the  head 
too  light  for  the  body. 

Having  given  our  views  for  what  they  may  be  worth,  in 
reference  to  the  selection  of  pupils  and  to  their  number  to 
form  a  school  under  a  single  direction,  we  have  now  to  give 
an  idea  of  what  may  be  considered  as  the  motor,  sensorial 
and  intellectual,  of  the  institution,  with  its  attendants,  gym- 
nasts, teachers  and  superior  officers.  We  can  do  this  better 
by  a  review  of  their  daily  contact  with  the  children  (in  which 
the  rotatory  movement,  systematically  exposed  above,  shall 
find,  by  and  by,  its  natural  illustration),  than  by  a  formal  draw- 
ing of  their  abstract  functions. 

The  attendants  are  the  persons  most  constantly  in  contact 
with  the  children.  To  have  one  in  each  sleeping-room,  the 
servants  of  all  the  departments  are  expected  to  do,  at  night, 
the  functions  of  attendants.  It  is  altogether  a  light  duty, 
but  one  which  teaches  them  kindness  to  the  inmates  who  are 
the  source,  not  to  be  lost  sight  of,  wherefrom  employment 
and  salary  come  to  them.  Those  of  that  class  whose  other 
functions  begin  early,  are  allowed  to  room  with  the  most 
intelligent  children  who  require  only  a  short  watching  when 
going  to  bed,  and  in  the  morning  from  five  to  six  o'clock. 
The  real  attendants  have  to  wash,  clean,  and  dress  the  chil- 


Institution.  189 

dren  from  five  to  seven  A.  M.,  with  what  help  they  have  taught 
the  higher  grade  of  them  to  give  the  lower.  After  this  the 
pupils  are  amused  and  walked  in,  or  out  of  doors  by  one- 
half  of  the  attendants,  while  the  others  take  their  first  meal. 
Before  going  to  breakfast  the  children  are  reviewed,  one  and 
all,  by  the  Superintendent.  The  attendants  must  repeat  to 
him  the  verbal  report  they  made  to  the  Matron  about  the 
night,  and  give  the  particulars  of  what  may  have  transpired 
since  they  arose.  This  morning  examination  is  no  light  busi- 
ness to  be  trifled  with,  or  trusted  to  half-competency.  In 
another  place  we  have  shown  it  to  be  the  first  step  towards 
the  school-room,  or  out  of  it;  here  we  present  it  in  its  rela- 
tions to  the  daily  regulation  of  food,  diet,  hygiene  and  medical 
treatment.  The  verbal  report  of  each  attendant  on  sleep, 
cleanliness,  and  health  during  the  night,  and  the  morning 
written  summary  report  of  the  Matron,  are  confronted  with 
each  other  and  with  the  actual  condition  of  the  children.  Any- 
thing anomalous  which  has  happened  or  appears  at  the  visit, 
must  be  the  starting-point  of  more  minute  inquiries,  and  lead 
to  hygienic  or  remedial  measures  beginning  precisely  before, 
or  with  the  next  meal. 

At  the  close  of  this  morning  visit  each  attendant  conducts 
her  children  in  small  squads  to  breakfast,  which  is  served 
in  small  rooms,  and  according  to  habit  or  to  special  prescrip- 
tion. There  again  the  attendant  is  alone,  aided  only  by  the 
more  intelligent  children,  who  feed  with  her  the  more  helpless, 
or  profiFer  other  services.  When  breakfast  is  over  the  children 
are  cleaned  again  and  their  physical  wants  attended  to  espe- 
cially, so  that  nothing  of  the  sort  may  interfere  with  the  coming 
operations  of  the  training.  Then  the  attendants  transfer  the 
pupils  to  their  teachers,  and  during  school  hours  part  of  them 
take  charge  of  the  housework,  part  of  the  sewing,  part  of 
them  are  allowed  to  rest.  At  and  after  lunch,  dinner,  and 
supper,  the  same  services  are  performed,  after  which  the  at- 
tendants accompany  their  charge,  conveniently  separated  by 
ages  and  sexes,  wherever  the  temperature  permits.  Here  they 
are  enjoined  to  not  communicate  one  with  another,  nor  work, 
nor  read  nor  sleep,  but  to  be  in  direct  communication  with 
the  children,  making  them  happy  and  lively  with  playthings 
and  simple  devices ;  at  least  making  the  lowest  walk,  without 


igo  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

leaving  them  drowsy  and  isolated.  Some  children  listen  to 
stories,  some  are  prevented  from  injuring  themselves,  some  are 
amused,  some  are  gathered  around  a  girl  singing  simple  melo- 
dies. When  the  afternoon  teaching  is  over  the  attendants 
take  final  possession  of  their  charge,  clean  them  again,  passing 
through  the  same  routine  of  duties,  and  after  supper  accom- 
pany them  to  the  music,  dancing,  plays  of  some  sort,  by 
which  the  day  is  closed.  After  consigning  the  children  to  bed 
the  attendants  may  assemble  for  an  hour  or  two  of  conversa- 
tion, private  sewing,  etc.,  previous  to  resting  themselves  from 
their  arduous  duties.  These  have  been  arranged  so  that  from 
morning  till  night  every  attendant  has  been  in  active  service 
ten  hours  a  day,  almost  all  the  time  near  the  children.  These 
indeed  are  trying  hours,  if  we  consider  the  responsibility  of 
the  station,  and  the  kindness  to  be  used  as  sole  agency  of 
obedience  to  orders,  and  of  training  to  the  habits  of  social 
iife.  The  attendant  cannot  be  empowered  to  punish  or  coerce 
children,  but  to  help  and  incite  them  only ;  hence  the  neces- 
sity of  choosing  for  that  function  women  very  kind,  gay, 
attractive,  endowed  with  open  faces,  ringing  voices,  clear  eyes, 
easy  movements,  and  affectionate  propensity  towards  children. 
These  are  their  only  real  power;  when  it  fails  they  have 
to  refer  to  their  presumed  superiors  in  intelligence,  and  to 
borrow  of  them  an  authority  which  cannot  be  exercised  but 
with  a  complete  knowledge  of  the  physiological  anomalies 
of  each  case.  Thus  is  spent  the  time  of  these  good  women, 
who  attend  to  the  idiots  much  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
monks  of  Spain  of  yore,  and  the  farmers  of  Ghel  later,  took 
care  of  the  insane,  with  little  science,  but  a  great  deal  of 
charity. 

They  have  been  followed  all  the  while  by  the  Matron,  who 
sees  that  everything  is  right  at  bed-time,  in  the  middle  of 
the  night,  and  in  the  early  morning.  When  the  first  bell 
sounds,  it  is  she  who  goes  from  bed  to  bed,  making  sure  that 
the  sick  are  not  taken  out  and  bathed  to  satisfy  the  uniformity 
of  the  rules.  She  soon  knows  who  has  been  clean,  quiet, 
orderly  last  night;  and  who  is  qualified  or  not  for  the  occu- 
pations of  the  opening  day.  Thus  she  controls  and  confirms 
the  correctness  of  the  reports  of  the  attendants ;  at  the  same 
time  that,  by  her  presence,  she  exacts  that  the  children  be 


Institution.  191 

treated  in  these  trying  hours  as  she  would  treat  them  herself. 
It  is  out  of  our  plan  to  follow  her  in  the  exercise  of  her 
general  functions,  which  are  so  well  understood.  But  idiots 
require  a  very  different  sort  of  maternal  attendance  from  that 
needed  by  other  children  gathered  for  charitable  purposes. 
As  soon  as  the  orders  resulting  from  the  morning  visits  are 
received,  she  sees  that  they  are  carried  into  execution.  In 
the  infirmary  she  attends  to  the  application  of  such  dressings, 
and  to  the  giving  of  such  medicines,  as  the  children  may  have 
been  ordered ;  and  at  meals  she  directs  that  the  prescriptions 
relating  to  individual  diet  are  punctually  executed.  She  never 
allows  the  children  to  go  out  without  seeing  that  each  one 
is  clothed  according  to  the  peculiarities  of  his  constitution  and 
the  temperature.  The  feet  and  hands  are  the  objects  of  her 
greatest  care  in  creatures  whose  circulation  is  mostly  sluggish 
or  impaired  at  the  periphery.  When  they  return  she  should 
look  at  each,  to  see  if  any  one  has  fallen,  hurt  himself  or 
others,  coughs,  or  suffers  in  any  way.  In  this  kind  of  duties, 
of  which  we  give  only  a  few  specimens,  the  matron's  role  is 
active.  At  other  times  her  action  becomes  nearly  or  entirely 
silent  or  passive;  as  whenever  the  children  are  engaged  in 
their  various  avocations  with  the  teachers  and  gymnasts. 
There,  without  saying  a  word  unless  for  the  most  urgent 
reason,  she  passes,  remarking  which  among  the  many  counte- 
nances become  weary,  exhausted,  listless ;  she  notes  these  for 
future  observation,  unless  the  uneasiness  becomes  so  great 
as  to  call  for  immediate  interference.  She  presides  at  the 
festivities  among  the  children;  at  large  parties,  or  weekly 
music  or  dancing,  or  daily  evening  pastimes,  of  a  pleasant  and 
informal  character.  And  when  the  children  have  been  put 
to  bed  under  her  eyes,  sooner  or  later  according  to  ages, 
she  has  not  yet  made  them  her  last  visit  before  retiring  to 
rest  herself. 

The  teachers  begin  their  work  together  by  leading  the 
children  in  the  singing  exercises  of  the  morning;  after  which 
they  go  to  their  respective  rooms,  into  which  they  are  followed 
most  willingly  by  the  pupils,  very  few  of  whom  need  be 
directed  to  their  proper  places.  Each  teacher  has  a  pro- 
gramme of  lessons  and  a  series  of  groups  of  children;  both 
adapted  to  each  other  in  the  table  of  movements  of  which 


192  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

every  one  has  a  copy.  By  this  table  the  teachers  are  allowed 
the  same  variety  of  exercises  as  the  children  in  respect:  first, 
to  the  teaching,  so  that  two  successive  lessons  shall  not  em- 
ploy the  same  set  of  organs,  nor  exact  the  use  of  the  same 
intellectual  functions;  and  second,  to  the  persons,  by  chang- 
ing, relatively,  children  and  teacher  at  each  lesson,  thus  pre- 
venting the  moral  fatigue  which  results  from  protracted  and 
often  unsuccessful  contacts  of  obedience  and  understanding. 
But  the  teacher  has  many  other  things  to  do  besides  teaching. 
She  first  places  the  children,  as  they  come  each  half-hour, 
in  presence  of  their  lessons,  far  or  near  according  to  their 
wants,  or  to  their  individual  capacity  for  immobility,  atten- 
tion, perception,  etc.,  or  to  the  active  or  passive  groups  to 
which  they  temporarily  belong.  She  takes  note  of  the  im- 
pression made  on  the  health  of  every  child,  pushes  or  stops 
an  exercise  according  to  the  depression,  or  more  rarely  to 
the  exaltation  it  causes :  never  aiming  at  imparting  so  much 
knowledge,  but  at  exercising  such  functions  to  such  an  extent. 
These  and  other  accessory  cares  exact  a  great  deal  of  her 
mental  power  and  vigilance,  besides  the  fatigue  of  teaching 
proper.  After  six  hours  so  employed,  in  close  contact,  we 
nearly  said  combat,  with  the  intellectual  infirmities  of  her 
pupils,  the  teacher  is  scarcely  expected  to  fulfil  any  other 
serious  duties  towards  them.  Nevertheless  she  must  direct 
them  in  their  excursions,  gathering  insects,  leaves,  flowers, 
anything,  by  sort  or  kind;  and  help  them  to  arrange  these  in 
collections;  and  she  has,  besides,  a  busy  hand  in  all  the  rep- 
resentations, charades,  dancing,  extra  and  regular  evening 
pleasures  of  the  family.  When  she  retires,  it  is  yet  her  duty 
to  note  anything  particular,  which  has  transpired  about  the 
children,  or  any  remarks  of  hers  upon  the  teaching,  suggested 
by  her  own  experience  of  the  day.  These  notes  cannot  be 
confided  to  fugacious  memory,  but  must  be  written  in  a 
durable  form  and  laid  like  the  material  for  the  foundation  of 
a  better  edifice  than  the  present  method  is,  after  having  been 
discussed  in  teachers'  meetings,  and  submitted  to  the  repeated 
tests  of  experience. 

The  gymnast,  though  a  teacher  also,  has  functions  which 
differ,  if  not  in  their  material  mechanism,  at  least  in  some 
particulars,  from  those  just  mentioned.     His  lessons  are  more 


Institution.  193 

neatly  divided  into  general,  group,  and  individual.  More  than 
the  teacher,  he  must  be  assisted  by  the  more  intelligent  and 
willing  pupils,  because  he  may  command  with  his  single  will 
many  movements,  but  can  correct  only  a  few  wrong  ones 
with  his  own  hands.  Here  the  help  of  idiots  is  doubly 
precious,  since  it  trains  the  movements  of  the  lowest  by  the 
training  of  the  intellect  of  the  highest;  the  former  learning 
to  imitate,  the  latter  to  reason  the  imitation,  besides  develop- 
ing his  will;  clumsy  as  these  helpers  look  at  first,  they  are 
valuable  and  soon  become  precious.  The  gymnast  seems  to 
need,  more  than  the  teacher,  the  quality  of  judging  the  point 
at  which  each  exercise  must  be  carried  by  each  child,  to  be 
physiological  and  safe.  He  must  know  that  point,  strive  to 
attain  it,  feel  it,  and  there  stop :  in  this  lies  his  talent  and  the 
safety  of  the  children.  He  is  besides  called  to  direct  the  out- 
door sports,  whose  apparatus  is  changeable  according  to 
temperature  and  locality;  to  lend  a  useful  hand  to  the 
pleasure-parties  of  any  sort  given  to  the  children;  and  is 
obliged,  like  the  teachers,  to  write  out  in  extenso  his  observa- 
tions on  the  children,  and  on  his  part  of  the  training. 

As  the  housekeeper  takes  charge  of  the  girls  as  soon  as 
they  are  able  to  learn  practical  housework,  so  the  steward 
has  the  management  of  the  boys  in  the  garden  and  fields; 
whilst  all  the  persons  working  in  the  Institution  are  expected 
to  lend  their  assistance  to  the  training  of  the  children  in 
their  special  avocations.  To  sew,  garden,  or  wash  for  the 
establishment  is  well  enough ;  but  to  help  the  children  in 
doing  the  same  is  better  yet :  in  fact,  everybody  here  must  be 
ready  to  turn  into  a  teacher  of  idiots.  The  duties  of  the 
steward,  in  particular,  are  important;  as  in  relieving  the  Super- 
intendent of  many  gross  cares,  leaving  him  more  time  for 
his  intellectual  functions.  But  our  delineation  of  the  Institu- 
tion is  too  general  to  admit  of  following  any  one  of  its  officers 
but  in  their  direct  action  on  the  training. 

But  so  many  persons  are  not  expected  to  act  in  such  close 
concert  of  time  and  purpose  without  conforming  their  conduct 
to  a  plan  strongly  framed,  the  conception  of  a  single  head. 
The  Superintendent  is  or  should  be  that  head.  He  is  supposed 
to  be  prepared  by  special  studies  to  confront  the  important 
problems  enclosed  in  the  yet  mysterious  word  idiocy.     His 

13 


194  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

functions  are  many;  more,  we  think,  than  he  can  well 
perform. 

He  has  to  manage  delicate  relations  with  the  Legislature 
or  corporations  to  insure  the  financial  existence  of  the  Insti- 
tution. He  has  to  keep  open  general  and  private  communi- 
cations with  the  public,  and  with  the  families  of  idiots:  most 
parents  needing  to  be  educated  to  the  point  of  understanding 
what  their  children  are,  and  what  may  be  done  for  them.  In 
these  respects  he  can  scarcely  do  too  much;  since  here,  after 
fifteen  years  of  voting,  paying,  printing,  lecturing  in  favor  of 
idiots,  and  notwithstanding  the  practical  training  of  above 
five  hundred  pupils  by  State  munificence,  nine-tenths  of  our 
well-educated  population,  and  more  than  one-half  of  physi- 
cians, ignore  the  very  existence  of  the  New  York  State  Insti- 
tution at  Syracuse. 

Two  other  points  require  his  special  attention.  When  the 
parents  of  idiots  have  become  familiar  with  the  object  of  the 
school,  he  must  make  the  mother  understand  the  advantage  of 
her  coming  with  her  baby  often,  to  be  advised  on  her  future 
course,  to  see  what  training  she  can  pick  up  and  carry  home,  to 
not  allow  idiocy  to  be  aggravated  by  inactivity.  And  he  must 
take  advantage  of  favorable  incidents  to  sound  the  truth  as  to 
what  she  considers  the  circumstances  which  had  an  influence  on 
the  anormal  condition  of  her  child.  All  she  says  about  it  must 
be  recorded,  probable  or  unlikely,  simple  or  monstrous,  vulgar 
or  supernatural.  Time  alone  can  permit  a  judgment,  not  upon 
hundreds  of  such  sayings,  but  upon  the  comparisons  of  thou- 
sands. Provisionally  these  records  are  allowed  to  sleep  in 
their  annual  and  alphabetical  order.  But  when  the  subjects  of 
them  become  older,  and  application  is  made  for  their  admission, 
these  notes  are  confronted  with  the  actual  status  of  the  grown 
child;  double  foundation,  copious  and  minute  elements  of  a 
future  monograph.  In  this  expectation  no  pains  must  be 
spared  to  give  the  second  report  the  fulness  and  clearness  it  re- 
quires to  be  used  as  the  starting-point  of  a  scientific  observa- 
tion. In  it  the  Superintendent  insists  upon  the  circumstances 
of  locality,  hereditary  constitution,  parentage,  alliance,  con- 
ception, gestation,  labor,  lactation,  impressions  of  the  mother 
and  nurse,  dentition  and  infantile  ailments,  early  or  progress- 
ive backwardness  of  the  vital  manifestations,  closing  by  a 
thorough  description  of  the  same  at  the  time  of  writing.    The 


Institution.  195 

Superintendent  who  interrogates  the  parents  and  asks  from 
the  functions  of  the  child  an  answer  on  all  these  points,  begins 
to  possess  his  subject.  What  the  family  or  child  cannot  tell, 
his  means  of  investigation  shall  reveal.  Next,  the  functions 
of  organic  life  are  analyzed;  heat,  respiration,  circulation, 
blood,  urine,  saliva,  sweat,  faeces,  are  submitted  to  the  tests  of 
the  new  senses  of  observation  and  comparison  created  by  the 
use  of  chemical  reagents,  the  microscope,  the  thermometer, 
the  stethoscope,  spirometer,  dynamometer,  etc.  The  child  is 
weighed,  measured  in  his  diverse  proportions ;  his  capacity  for 
endurance  and  activity  is  tested ;  his  powers  of  intelligence  and 
speech  are  ascertained;  his  will  and  habits  delineated;  a  pen- 
and-ink  portrait  is  drawn  of  his  whole  being,  and  kept  together 
with  his  photograph,  as  witnesses  to  the  point  at  which  he  be- 
gan to  be  taught.  Then  the  Superintendent,  with  a  perfect 
knowledge  of  his  subject,  may  launch  him  among  the  other 
children,  not  yet  as  an  accepted  pupil,  but  as  a  probationer  on 
an  experimental  treatment  of  observation. 

Therefore  the  superintendent  must  have  an  absolute  under- 
standing of  the  children.  Others  may  be  more  familiar  either 
with  their  habits,  capacities,  or  peculiarities;  but  none  must 
know  them  so  completely  himself.  Then  come  what  may, 
resistance,  obstacles  in  the  training,  etc.,  he  knows  what  to 
believe  and  who  to  distrust,  and  can  truly  superintend  the 
work.  This  possession  of  the  character  of  his  pupils  and  of 
his  subordinates  is  the  store  which  supplies  his  capacity;  out 
of  it  he  draws  his  best  resources  for  the  accomplishment  of  his 
subsequent  functions. 

The  most  important  of  them  is  to  take  the  lead  of  the  school 
movement;  operation  by  which  the  children  are  distributed  in 
efficient  groups,  and  in  which  sufficient  exercise  of  each  of 
their  functions  is  apportioned  to  every  one  of  them.  He  fol- 
lows, throughout  the  general  training  the  impressions  made 
upon  the  health,  progress,  habits,  of  every  child ;  from  which  he 
deduces  the  propriety  of  continuance,  change,  or  simple  modi- 
fication, either  in  the  nature,  length,  or  intensity  of  the  multi- 
form objects  of  training.  It  is  very  difficult  to  understand  how 
he  can  delegate  this  duty  for  any  length  of  time,  without  losing 
the  meaning  of  what  is  done  in  his  name ;  or  how  he  can  relin- 
quish it  entirely,  without  assenting  to  a  potential  abdication. 


196  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

This  active  observation  is  particularly  required  for  the  new 
pupils  received  on  probation.  Before  their  final  admission 
these  children  are  to  be  studied  in  diverse  aspects.  Being  gen- 
erally undersized  and  brought  up  in  inactivity,  they  are  not 
expected  to  be  as  robust  as  others;  though  not  more  sickly 
than  the  average;  but  more  than  the  average  afflicted  with 
epilepsy,  paralysis,  chorea,  or  secondary  affections  considered 
as  obstructing  the  channels  leading  to  improvement.  At 
any  rate,  any  one  of  these  infirmities  superadded  to  idiocy 
cannot  improve  it.  However,  the  Superintendent  is  to 
call  discretion  and  discrimination  to  his  aid  in  the  ap- 
preciation of  the  character  of  both  ailments.  Is  idiocy 
primary,  or  consequent  to,  or  simultaneous  with  the  other 
affection?  Does  idiocy  aggravate  the  other  disorder,  or  is  the 
reverse  true?  Does  idiocy  require  a  treatment  entirely  op- 
posed to  the  cure  of  the  accessory  disease?  Or  does  the  acces- 
sory disease  need  to  be  cured  prior  to  treating  idiocy,  or  vice 
versa f  What  impediment  or  what  help  may  the  treatment  of 
one  bring  to  bear  upon  the  issue  of  the  other?  What  influence 
may  the  accessory  affections  of  one  or  of  several  children  have 
upon  the  general  training,  or  upon  the  nervous,  imitative,  or 
intellectual  faculties  of  an  undetermined  number  of  pupils? 
Will  these  accessory  infirmities  act  by  contagion,  example,  or 
like  dead  weights  on  the  institution?  These  questions  are  not 
of  the  kind  for  which  written  answers  will  do;  each  case  con- 
taining its  own  solution,  to  be  read  from  the  symptoms,  as 
they  are  evolved  during  the  process  of  observation. 

Another  point  to  be  studied  in  the  new  pupils  with  no  less 
attention,  but  of  more  genieral  import,  is  the  relation  of  their 
need  and  power  of  assimilation  to  their  deperdition  of  force 
under  the  friction  of  newly  imposed  labor.  Prior  to  entering 
in  training,  these  children  derived  a  bare  sustenance  from  their 
food,  abundant  or  scanty,  rich  or  meagre.  In  their  new  status 
they  will  need  food;  ist,  as  previously,  to  support  life;  but  be- 
sides, 2d,  to  furnish  the  elements  of  a  larger  growth;  3d,  to 
increase  their  vital  powers ;  and  4th,  to  spend  in  their  new 
activity.  Who  will  not  admit  that  great  change  must  be  made 
in  the  food,  and  great  change  must  take  place  in  the  result  of 
feeding,  to  obtain  great  changes  in  the  constitution,  habits, 
and  functional  manifestations  of  the  new-comer?  And  who 
does  not  foresee  that  if  the  use  of  the  best  means  of  nutrition 


Institution.  197 

does  not  go  further  than  feeding  the  idiotic  constitution  in  the 
idiot,  he  will  never  emerge  from  idiocy?  Therefore  the  first 
struggle  between  the  Superintendent  and  his  pupil  does  not 
consist  in  showing  him  letters  that  he  will  not  look  at,  but  in 
generating  by  food  and  hygenic  measures  a  given  force  to  be 
spent  and  renovated  in  increasing  ratio :  this  is  the  A,  B,  C. 
If,  in  spite  of  these  means,  he  does  not  gain,  or  actually  fails, 
in  his  strength  during  the  period  of  observation,  Nostalgia  has 
taken  possession  of  him,  or  he  has  entered  into  his  age  of  senil- 
ity, which  begins  for  some  idiots  at  the  time  ordinarily  marked 
for  virility;  or  he  may  be  impervious  to  any  of  the  modes  of 
rejuvenating  the  circulation.  Prudence  reserves  the  final  de- 
cision on  the  nature  of  the  causes  of  this  failure;  whilst  ob- 
servation notes,  calculates,  weighs,  measures  the  vital  forces; 
and  if  these  tests  show  any  gradual  decrease  under  a  treat- 
ment intended  to  invigorate,  the  child  must  be  turned  over  to 
the  parents,  at  least  temporarily. 

But  how  could  we  restrict  to  the  new  pupils  this  double  sur- 
vey of  the  effects  of  food  and  diet  on  the  forces,  and  of  the  in- 
fluence of  the  production  of  forces  on  the  treatment?  Does 
not  every  pupil  every  day  require  the  same  watchfulness? 
Does  not  the  whole  movement  of  the  institution  depend  upon 
the  sum  total  of  force  produced  by  the  regulation  of  said  equi- 
librium ;  and  does  not  the  superintendent  stand  in  regard  to 
this  harmony  in  the  same  relation  as  the  engineer  in  regard  to 
the  proportion  of  heat  to  steam,  of  steam  to  weight  to  be  dis- 
placed? In  this  respect  he  will  not  allow  himself  to  be  im- 
posed upon  by  reports  of  ignorant  subordinates,  or  by  written 
prejudices. 

The  products  of  alimentation  being  the  ultimate  means  relied 
upon  to  raise  the  children  from  idiocy,  they  must  be  fed,  not 
to  be  filled,  but  to  produce  by  nutrition  the  desired  force.  But 
so  far,  any  interference  of  science  in  the  arts  accessory  to  feed- 
ing have  produced  only  sophistication  and  crime.  Erostratus 
was  a  saint  next  to  the  chemist  who  has  taught  millions  how 
to  adulterate  wine  and  bread,  the  two  staples  of  civilized  life. 
The  theoretical  division  of  food  into  nitrogenized  and  non- 
nitrogenized  is  not  so  firmly  established  as  to  authorize  a  Su- 
perintendent to  risk  upon  it  the  future  of  his  children ;  and  the 
uncertainty  of  other  hypotheses  must  satisfy  him  conclusively 


198  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

that  alimentation  is  not  a  science  but  an  art.  Of  this  art  we 
know  thus  much.  Nourishment  is  the  result,  not  so  much  of 
bulk,  as  of  variety;  the  reason  of  this  is,  that  man  is  omniv- 
orous. Consequently,  that  which  nourishes  the  most  is  not 
always  the  richest  food,  but  the  one  most  relished;  because 
being  desired,  it  produces  an  abundant  secretion  of  salivary 
and  gastric  fluids,  by  which  the  food  is  more  thoroughly  assim- 
ilated than  when  it  is  indifferently  swallowed.  Another  conse- 
quence of  this  remark  is  that,  setting  apart  the  cases  of  per- 
verted tastes  or  Pica,  the  children  themselves  are  pretty  sure 
judges  of  what  is  good  for  them;  and  will  tell  it  to  any  one 
who  will  take  the  trouble  of  reading  their  tastes  on  their  coun- 
tenances while  they  eat.  As  to  quantity,  they  are  not  so  good 
judges,  their  appetence  often  wishing  more  than  is  required  by 
their  appetite ;  this  is  a  matter  to  be  regulated  by  experience. 
But  the  future  of  the  children  does  not  depend  only  on  their 
feeding.  Seasons,  epidemics,  accidents,  individual  deficiencies, 
bring  their  unavoidable  share  of  sickness — of  death  even : 

''  Et  la  garde  qui  veille  aux  barricres  du  Louvre, 
N'en  defend  pas  les  rois." 

But  disease  or  impending  death  comes  rarely  upon  idiots  in 
the  open  manner  in  which  it  ordinarily  assails  men.  They 
feel  it  more  by  a  negation  of  feeling  than  positively;  so  that 
questioning  them  is  useless,  and  their  answers,  if  they  can 
speak,  are  deceptive.  In  this  emergency,  nothing  will  do  to 
settle  the  diagnosis,  if  not  precisely  as  to  the  disease,  at  least 
as  to  its  lenient  or  dangerous  nature,  so  well  as  the  use  of  the 
tests  of  vital  forces  already  referred  to.*  It  is  not  in  our  plan 
to  follow  the  idiot  to  his  sick-bed;  the  Superintendent  who 
does  it  knows  more  than  we  do  on  the  subject.  One  thing 
only  we  mark:  let  us  remember  that  in  sickness  as  in  health, 
the  idiot  is  always  laboring  more  or  less  under  his  primary  de- 
ficiency of  nutrition.  But  constant  reference  to  the  state  of 
heat,  circulation,  and  respiration,  will  warn  against  the  danger 
of  asthenia.  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  superintendent 
is  to  put  these  tests  aside  as  soon  as  life  is  no  longer  in  peril. 
We  mean,  on  the  contrary,  that  he  must  use  them  for  all  the 


*  See  Aitken  on  Wunderlich's  practice;  and  E.  C.  Seguin  on  the  New  York  Hospital 
practice,  in  the  Chicago  Medical  J  ournalior  May,  1866.    , 


Institution.  199 

pupils.  These  vital  tests  and  the  chemical  microscopical,  and 
other  examinations  of  the  condition  of  the  functions  and  secre- 
tions, are  to  be  made  and  recorded  monthly,  and  oftener  in  spe- 
cial cases. 

But  the  use  of  scientific  appliances  does  not  dispense  the 
Superintendent  from  measuring  also  the  vitality  of  the  chil- 
dren by  the  physiological  standard  of  their  activity;  to  see 
whether  they  sleep,  eat,  play,  study,  labor  with  a  healthy 
soundness,  or  show  traces  of  languor  or  restlessness  in  what 
they  do  or  refuse  to  do.  If  these  two  kinds  of  evidence  coin- 
cide in  their  indications,  they  call  for  due  hygienic  interfer- 
ence and  instant  modifications  in  the  training.  Thus  the  Su- 
perintendent keeps  his  eye  fixed  upon  the  pupils,  and  his  hand 
as  if  he  were  constantly  feeling  the  pulse  of  the  institution. 

However,  many  other  things  are  to  be  done  for  the  children 
by  others,  and  yet  with  a  unity  which  can  but  proceed  from 
him ;  and  he  cannot  impress  on  the  mind  of  his  assistants  the 
direction  of  his  own,  without  giving  much  time  to  their  train- 
ing; be  they,  or  not,  experienced  teachers,  matrons,  attendants, 
or  others.  He  must  give  them  his  plans  of  treatment  to  be  car- 
ried out,  and  they  must  impart  to  him  their  daily  experience 
in  the  progress  of  individual  training;  this  interchange  forms 
their  bond  of  union.  By  this  constant  exchange  of  views  from 
the  general  to  the  special,  the  Superintendent  is  not  in  the 
least  exempted  from  controlling  the  teaching  on  the  spot. 
There  he  will  find  that  after  years  of  experience,  the  best 
teacher  may  act  contrary  to  the  laws  of  physiology,  and  he 
may  surprise  himself  learning  new  things  in  his  art  from  some 
peculiar  incapacity  of  an  idiot. 

Besides,  he  endeavors  not  to  spend  an  evening  without 
having  some  informal  conversation  upon  the  topics  of  the  day, 
advising  changes,  provoking  verbal  or  written  expressions  of 
opinion  from  his  subordinates.  In  this  constant  intercourse 
familiar  suggestions  take  the  place  of  orders,  plans  are  laid 
for  future  labors,  and  materials  are  accumulated  to  keep  up 
the  interest  of  the  monthly  meetings.  These  meetings,  cen- 
tral points  wherefrom  radiate  the  views  of  the  Superintendent, 
arc  occupied  by  the  reading  of  the  reports  of  the  family,  of 
the  girls  and  the  boys  drawn  up  separately,  of  the  school  com- 
mon to  both  sexes,  but  distinct  as  to  every  part  of  the  training. 


200  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

Attention  is  called  by  the  Matron  and  the  more  intelligent 
attendants  upon  domestic  matters,  and  by  teachers  and  gym- 
nasts upon  new  points  pertaining  to  the  training.  Extra 
tasks  of  observation  are  assigned  to  competent  parties,  changes 
are  prescribed,  and  new  orders  given,  closing  by  the  reading  of 
short  essays  on  the  various  incidents  of  the  last  month's 
labors,  health,  etc.  Very  few,  if  any,  of  these  essays  must 
assume  the  tabular  form,  in  which  children,  habits,  progress, 
exercises,  are  reduced  to  figures.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  de- 
sirable that  they  be  intimately  connected  with  the  treatment 
of  specified  individuals,  even  with  a  very  limited  part  of  it, 
provided  the  observation  be  thorough.  These  fragments  must 
be  classified  with  the  other  documents  pertaining  to  the  his- 
tory of  the  same  child,  and  will  be  found  invaluable  for  the 
formation  of  monographs. 

Every  year  the  Superintendents  of  the  various  schools  for 
idiots  should  meet,  to  impart  to  one  another  the  difficulties 
they  have  encountered,  the  results  of  their  experience,  and 
mostly  to  compare  the  books  containing  their  orders  and  regu- 
lations. These  books,  the  embodiment  of  the  past  and  future 
life  of  the  institutions,  are  not  so  much  the  personal  property 
of  those  who  fill  them  with  their  creative  and  organizing 
genius  as  that  of  society,  which  lavishes  money  upon  the 
schools,  not  only  to  improve  idiots,  but  to  spread  the  means 
adapted  to  their  improvement.  In  the  same  spirit  the  Super- 
intendents might  agree  upon  a  system  of  temporary  exchange 
of  teachers  and  attendants.  This  would  be  very  beneficial  in 
grafting  from  school  to  school  certain  peculiarities  of  training 
nearly  impossible  to  transmit  by  writing,  and  would  offer 
pleasant  change  and  relaxation  to  trusty  officers  after  faithful 
and  protracted  service. 

Then  the  Superintendent  should  consider  the  important 
questions  relating  to  the  propagation  of  schools  for  idiots 
where  they  may  be  needed ;  to  the  creation  of  asylums  proper, 
ir  which  adult  idiots,  left  friendless  or  imperfectly  improved, 
might  find  a  happy  home;  to  the  opening  of  special  hospitals 
in  which  choreic,  epileptic,  and  otherwise  nervously  affected 
children  might  be  treated,  instead  of  being,  as  actually 
they  are,  a  dead  weight  upon  the  institutions.  This  enumera- 
tion only  opens  the  series.    In  regard  to  the  theory  and  prac- 


Institution.  201 

tice  of  their  art,  they  should  ascertain  the  precise  point  at 
which  stands  their  own  knowledge  of  the  nature  and  origin  of 
idiocy;  their  skill  in  diagnosis  and  treatment;  and  the  eluci- 
dation of  the  physiological  questions  involved  in  the  theory 
of  the  training.  After  these  and  kindred  queries  have  been 
answered,  or  proposed  as  problems  to  be  solved  at  future  meet- 
ings, they  should  consider  the  relation  of  their  art  to  the  sci- 
entific world.  Few  and  perfect  monographs  are  to  be  issued 
from  time  to  time;  the  publication  of  works  upon  some  ana- 
lytical points  of  physiological  education  is  to  be  encouraged; 
public  lectures  on  the  less  abstruse  points  of  the  treatment 
of  idiots  might  be  tried ;  and  a  pecuniary  interest  taken  in  a 
Medico-Psychological  Review,  in  which  the  ideas  and  the  ten- 
dencies of  the  school  might  be  advocated.  The  physicians  to 
the  insane  have  to  be  shown  that,  next  to  the  moral  treatment 
handed  down  to  them  by  Willis,  Pinel,  and  Leuret,  the  physi- 
ological training  that  has  been  so  far  restricted  to  the  treat- 
ment of  idiots  may  accomplish  great  things  in  the  way  of  cor- 
recting false  ideas,  and  particularly  perverse  sensations  in  the 
insane.  Finally,  at  these  meetings  some  means  must  be  de- 
vised to  make  common-school  teachers  familiar  with  the 
ensemble  of  the  resources  offered  by  the  physiological  method 
to  develop  harmoniously  the  whole  being  in  our  children. 

It  is  thus  apparent  that  great  responsibilities  rest  upon  the 
Superintendents  and  upon  the  trustees  who  employ  them,  in 
carrying  out  the  immediate  and  remote  objects  of  the  founda- 
tion of  schools  for  idiots.  Narrow  eagerness  in  the  pursuit 
of  some  points  in  the  practice ;  remissness  in  analytical  in- 
quiry ;  neglect  of  the  synthetical  problem  of  physiology ;  drop- 
ping of  the  scientific  and  social  corollaries  already  issuing 
from  the  doctrine  of  physiological  treatment  and  education; 
such  are  some  of  the  evils  which  may  bring  down  a  school 
for  idiots  to  the  level  of  a  richly  endowed  poor-house. 

Happily  these  warnings  are  founded  more  upon  that  diffi- 
culty, inherent  to  human  nature,  by  which  we  are  incapadi- 
tated  for  fully  carrying  theory  into  practice,  than  upon  any 
positive  symptoms  of  decay  in  the  young  institution.  It  looks 
healthy  and  vigorous ;  it  spreads  far  in  lands  where  freedom 
is  cherished,  and  deep  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  first  acknowl- 
edged their  bonds  of  brotherhood  with  the  suffering  many ;  it 


202  Idiocy,  and  Its  Treatment. 

rises  in  solid  reality  among  the  monuments  of  learning  and 
benevolence ;  it  arose  as  one  of  the  mature  realizations  of  the 
gospel  on  earth,  that  nothing  can  destroy;  it  wanted  only  a 
better  exponent  of  its  principles ;  this  insufficiency  we  have 
kept  in  mind,  though  it  is  mitigated  by  the  consciousness  of 
having  once  more  accomplished  our  duty  towards  our  Master, 
our  pupils,  and  a  holy  idea. 


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